Something Most Foul
by tonygestaple
Summary: <html><head></head>Crossover. Thomas and his Friends wake up one morning to find that Something Most Foul has come to the Island of Sodor. A cry for help leads them to new discoveries that may  change their lives forever.</html>
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: All publicly recognisable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. Any original characters are the property of this author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

''_Human speech''_

_**~Train speech~**_

_Thought_

Chapter 1

Thomas really hated Thursdays. It wasn't the day itself that upset him, or even what he had to do on Thursdays, but what he knew was going to happen at the end of this cold November day as he made his way back to the engine sheds at Tidmouth. It was the same thing every week and it was really upsetting him. _Everything would be just fine if I didn't have to stop and wait at this blasted signal,_ thought the little engine. _It's all the fault of those new timetables that Sir Topham Hatt introduced at the beginning of the month._

Thomas had tried many times to run fast enough to get there before the signal changed to red so that he didn't have to wait, but he'd always failed. It was as though everyone and everything were conspiring together to make him late or hinder him in all sorts of ways, and he hated it. It was safety this, wait for that, and so many other little things that piled up one on top of another to ruin an otherwise happy day. Not that he didn't want the railways to be a safe place to work in, no. He was as careful as he could be, after all, having a branch line of his own to run meant that he was an important and really useful engine, and he did the best he could to please Sir Topham and to show him that he could carry his passengers safely all the time. It was just that, on Thursdays, after he'd dropped off his two coaches, Annie and Clarabel, at Knapford Station, he'd _always_ had to wait at this particular signal for _that_ particular engine to pass by before he could retire for the night, and he really, really hated it, knowing full well what was going to happen to him, but his unhappy thoughts were brought to a halt as he heard a familiar, cheerful toot-toot behind him.

Unlike Thomas, Percy was feeling quite happy and very pleased with himself. He'd just had a lovely day touring around the island and the best part of it all was when, after dropping his coach off at Elsbridge Station and returning through Knapford, Sir Topham had complimented him on a job well done and told him that if the Sodor Society for Scenic Snapshots wanted to organise another excursion trip around the island, then he, Percy, would be the engine he'd call upon to pull the coach. It was because of those thoughts that Percy was smiling the biggest smile ever as he toot-tooted cheerfully to his friend, Thomas, as he pulled up behind him at the signal post for the engine sheds.

_**~Hello, Thomas,~**_ he greeted, wanting to share his cheerful mood with his friend. _**~How are you this happy day?~**_

_**~There's nothing happy about today, Percy,~**_ grumbled Thomas, _**~and YOU won't be so cheerful either in a few moments, either.~**_

_**~Why ever not?~**_ asked Percy.

_**~Because HE is due to pass by any time soon.~**_

The smile vanished off Percy's face to be replaced by a look of horror.

_**~You don't mea-~**_ he started, only for the rest of his words to be drowned out by the squeal of brakes and hissing of air-valves as another engine pulled up alongside him on the other track, its headlamps illuminating the rear and right-hand side of his friend waiting in front of him, Thomas.

_**~Well, well, well,~**_intoned a deep and oily voice. _**~Look who we have by here, then!~**_

_**~W-w-what d-d-do y-y-you want?~**_ asked Percy, nervously letting some steam escape from his vents.

_**~Well, as I haven't seen you for such a long while, Percy, my little green puffball, I just want to say goodnight to you in my very own special way,~**_ sneered the new arrival, _**~or rather my good friend, Pinchy, wants to say goodnight to you,~**_ the voice continued.

Then, the sound of a diesel engine revving up and the whirring motor of a mechanical arm filled the night air as Diesel 10's jagged bucket scoop swung over from its resting place on his roof and re-positioned itself above Percy, who then started to tremble with fear, thinking that he was about to be crushed by the big green bully.

_**~Have a nice cold shower to wash away the day's dust, with my compliments,~**_ laughed Diesel 10, as he opened his bucket scoop just enough to let a small deluge of horrible, wet and slimy sludge that he'd scooped up from a river bed earlier that evening pour onto the poor, frightened, little green engine.

_**~Aaaaahhhhuuuurrrggghhhh!~**_ wailed Percy. _**~What did you do that for?~**_

_**~It would be very rude of me to ignore YOU, Thomas,~**_ said Diesel 10, ignoring Percy and slowly advancing along the track until he was alongside the little blue engine. After he'd stopped for a second time, he opened his scoop again and poured the remainder of the river mud all over Thomas, who let out just as loud a wail as his friend, Percy.

Diesel 10 had to be at the engine sheds in Tidmouth on Thursday nights ready to be ready to load the weekly consignment of Sodor Coal that was sent every Friday morning to Sunshine Time Station for Lady, the magical engine, as part of his punishment for his treachery against her several years ago, and he hated having to do it.

Lady was the special little engine that kept the magic of the railroads together, and it was the trail of gold dust she left behind her as she travelled that helped to create 'Sparkle', the magical essence that, amongst its special qualities, allowed travel between the Island of Sodor and Shining Time Station where she worked with her engineer, Burnett Stone.

Diesel 10 was always looking for a way to pay back the little steam engines on Sodor for all the trouble they'd been causing him over the years, and one of his many schemes had almost worked when he'd been mere inches away of getting rid of that infernal nuisance, Mr. Conductor, the manager of Shining Time Station, for good! If it hadn't been for Thomas helping Lady to lure him over a weak bridge that then collapsed under the heavy diesel's weight, he'd have finally done away with the magical engine. Diesel 10 had fallen into a pile of stinking rubbish on the refuse barge, ruining his great plan, and after they'd pulled him out of the rubbish when the barge eventually reached the mainland, it had taken over two years for him to be repaired before he could return back to Sodor, only to be given one of the fiercest rows he'd ever had from Sir Topham Hatt before he was allowed to stay on Sodor.

_**~Urgh! You rotter!~**_ shouted Thomas, shivering as the cold mud slid down the sides of his boiler and water tanks and into every little corner of his bodywork. _**~I'm fed up of this, you big bully! You've done this too many times now, and I'm going to tell Sir Topham about you when I see him in the morning.~**_

_**~Oh no you won't, you little pipsqueak~**_ said Diesel 10. _**Not if you don't want to have a nasty 'accident' one day, you won't.~ **_ The big diesel merrily laughed, opening and closing his mechanical claw with a resounding clang of metal to emphasise his point.

_**~I'm sick of hearing you little steamies going on and on about how useful you all are and how shiny your bloody paint is. Look at me and the other diesels on the island. Unlike you lot, WE don't complain when we get a speck of dust on us or a drop of water that's fallen off the roof of the station; WE know how to get on with the job no matter how muddy or dirty the work is. That's what you call really useful! WE'RE not pampered and cosseted like somebody's toy train set. I don't know why Sir Topham keeps you all here anyway. We can do ALL the work you lot can do, so mark my words, you two little puffballs, the day that we see the last steam engine on this island may be here sooner than you think,~**_and with another couple of loud clangs from Pinchy, the large diesel slowly made his way past the signal towards the turntable that would divert him to the coal pile behind the engine sheds.

The shock of his treatment from Diesel 10 had ruined Percy's happy day, and he started to cry.

_**~W-w-why does he hate us s-s-steamies so much?~**_ sobbed Percy, his voice quivering with the coldness of his sudden 'shower'.

_**~I don't know,~**_ replied Thomas, disgusted with the way the two of them had just been treated. _**~He's been doing that to me every Thursday night for the past few weeks, and I've had enough! I don't care anymore about his threats, I'm telling Sir Topham about him in the morning. He'll protect us from that big bully, you'll see.~**_

_**~B-b-but, Thomas, I'm afraid of him. C-c-can't we just wait? I m-mean, he may get bored with it and stop bullying us. I don't want to go around all day worrying about going round a bend and coming face to face with him somewhere. I'm really scared!~**_

_**~Do you WANT to be scared every day, Percy?~**_

_**~No, I don't, but I don't know what else we can do. If you report him, he might get us before Sir Topham can do anything about it, and then it'll be too late for us.~**_

_**~We've got to do something about him, Percy. Look, we'll give him a week to change his ways and if he doesn't, well, then we'll report him, okay?~**_

_**~Okay, Thomas, you seem to know what's best. We'll give him a week to mend his ways.~**_

By the time they'd finished talking, the signal light had changed to green so that they could move on, and so they made their way over the points and on towards the turntable, stopping first at the engine wash to try and get all that muddy sludge off their bodywork.

ooo

Meanwhile, in a distant land far, far away, another little steam engine was having problems of her own, though her problems were of a much more serious nature.

_**~I'm losing steam again,**_ _**Burnett,~**_ cried Lady. _**~I need more coal!~**_

"_This is very strange,"_ said Burnett. _"You've been low on steam all week and I can't figure out what's wrong with you. It's the same coal you've been burning since Thomas brought that very first wagon over from Sodor. I'll get in touch with Sir Topham Hatt in the morning and ask him about it. Maybe it's a different vein they've dug it out from. We've got just about enough left to make it back to Muffle Mountain before you run out, I think. A good service should get rid of this problem for you."_

_**~I hope so,~**_ said Lady, worriedly. _**~I'm not feeling so good right now. My firebox seems like it's all choked up or someth-OOH!~**_

"_Lady! What's wrong?"_ cried Burnett.

_**~Burnett! I ca-I can't g-~**_

Suddenly, a cloud of thick, black smoke erupted out of Lady's chimney stack, covering both her and Burnett with an oily grime, and Burnett unwittingly breathed some of it in and started to cough quite painfully, and his eyes started watering as well. Then, Lady cried out, _**~I'm losing more steam! My fire's gone cool and I'm slowing down! Quickly Burnett, I need more coal!~**_

Through suddenly tearful eyes that stung as though there was sand beneath his eyelids, Burnett struggled to shovel more coal into Lady's firebox. Blinking rapidly to try and clear his vision, he tried to read her water and pressure gauges, but his eyes were still stinging and he struggled to see the gauges clearly enough. The last thing he wanted right now was for her fire to be too low or to go out. Too low a pressure in her boiler and what steam there was would be wasted. Not only that, he'd have to use even more coal to get her pressure back up again, and putting too much coal in at once would mean that it would take that much longer again for it to burn hot enough to generate the steam she needed to build her pressure back up, and by the look of things, he had to get her back to the safety of her cave in Muffle Mountain as quickly as possible. Carefully, he adjusted Lady's regulator and water injector to maintain her boiler pressure, adding more coal as necessary and re-adjusting the valve settings, drawing on his many years of experience on the railroads, praying that he could do it right, all but blinded and coughing with every other breath he took as he was right then.

"_Don't try to speak, Lady,"_ he said to his dear friend. _"I'll get you home, don't you worry."_

Very, very slowly, things seemed to be going right for the two of them as the fire grew hotter, but then, Lady cried out again.

_**~Burnett,~**_ she moaned. _**~It's got worse. M-m-my m-m-magic is failing!~**_

Burnett looked out the side of Lady's cab and back down to the ground beside the track. Even through his tear-full and stinging eyes he could see that the usual trail of gold shavings that Lady left behind her had turned to a trail of black dust and slag, and that the black smoke that was pouring out from Lady's stack was doing the most strangest thing. Instead of dispersing up into the air, it just hung there in a long, dark line above the track, and not only that, but it was expanding out like a long balloon being filled with air. After rubbing his eyes clear them, he could see thin tendrils of the black smoke reaching out from the main cloud, reaching out and expanding as they snaking their way down to the ground and slithered off into the distance away from the magical engine. A feeling of dread chilled his bones and he turned back to the control levers to work some of his own engineering magic, knowing that he had to get Lady back to her cave at all costs!

ooo

Meanwhile, back on the Island of Sodor, and in his office at Knapford Station, Sir Topham Hatt, affectionately known to the more cheekier engines as The Fat Controller due to his rather rotund physique, was feeling moderately pleased with the way things were going. Another day had gone by without any major problems, well, except for the coupling that had snapped between two of the flatbed wagons loaded with timber that James was pulling up Gordon's Hill. The red engine had had to reverse for almost two miles until he could catch up with the runaway wagons before the guard could attach the spare chains that he kept with him in the guardsvan, but despite that little problem, a couple of things had helped to clear away any bad feelings about the lost time and risk of accident caused by the troublesome trucks.

The schools being on their summer holidays meant that many families were using the trains to visit relatives and to go to all the holiday camps on the island, as well as the special excursion trip that Percy had taken around Sodor. It had been received very enthusiastically by the passengers, and there was likely to be more work of that sort in the near future, according to what the young man in the tourist office had told Sir Topham. He pondered over the possibility of buying another engine just to help Percy, but decided that he'd wait until the extra work came in first before making any final decision on the matter.

Over the last two years, the global recession had hit his railway rather hard. On average, fewer people were using his services as they found it cheaper to travel about the island and to the mainland by car instead of train. _On the other hand,_ mused Sir Topham_,_ _ the freight side of the business is picking up due to those new Council developments in the major towns around Sodor, and any extra work generated these days is a blessing._ He frowned, thinking of the cheap tenders he'd had to give to the council in order to get those contracts.

It was a fight these days between the railway and road haulage firms to get new work, as the two industries both had their advantages and disadvantages. The lorries could go more or less anywhere to pick up and deliver their goods, but one train could take many times more tonnage than what a single lorry could carry. To boost the extra revenue he was getting with the new freight orders, he wondered if laying on more of the sight-seeing trips would be an answer to his financial woes. Sighing, he glanced across to the clock on the wall next to his office door. _Hmm. Half past nine._ _I don't want to worry about these things right now. It's time to go home for supper, and put my feet up with a good book and some wine before bed. _

Getting up from his desk, he put on his hat and coat, deciding that he'll deal with it all tomorrow. He flicked off the light switch on his way out, throwing his office into darkness, and stepped into the main traffic office, locking his own door behind him. He cast his eyes around the traffic office to make sure that all was right for when Debra, the ticket-seller and secretary, came in at half-six the following morning, and after switching of yet another light, he stepped out onto the station platform. After locking the outer door, Sir Topham looked up and down the platform to ensure that all was in order there as well. The overhead security and platform lights were all lit, all the doors were shut and locked, and the two old coaches, Annie and Clarabel, were standing ready beside the platform for Thomas' early morning service to Ffarquhar. _Yes,_ he thought, _all looks well._

He made his way along to the side of the main office building to where his car was parked, humming one of the tunes he'd heard earlier that day on the local radio station that Debra liked to listen to as she worked. Seeing the two coaches, Sir Topham recalled that Thomas had been acting strangely just lately, with some rather extreme mood swings. He'd be fine all week, and then as the weekend drew nearer, he'd get quite grumpy and start complaining about anything he could think of. _I'd better book him in for a service,_ thought Sir Topham. _He may be developing a fault somewhere, and it wouldn't do at all if he had a major breakdown and I had to take one of the other engines off an important job._

Glad that one of his many problems had been given a solution, Sir Topham climbed into his car, settled down comfortably, and started the engine. Now feeling more cheerful, he was ready for the journey home to Hatt Hall and a hearty supper.

ooo

_We've made it, _Burnett thought to himself, and a feeling of great relief filled his heart. _And not a moment to soon._ Lady was still belching out thick clouds of black that was now beginning to fill up the inside of her cave, and as he started to dampen down her fire, he decided he'd leave the cave's entrance doors open during the night to clear out the foul smoke.

It had been a struggle for him to see anything as it was, what with the smoke and his stinging eyes, so he pulled his scarf up over his mouth and nose in an attempt to stop breathing in the smoke, which helped a little bit, but his eyes were now red and very, very sore. He was trying not to rub them too much but they just wouldn't stop watering and obscuring his vision. He considered himself and Lady as being very fortunate indeed that they'd managed to get back to the cave without having an accident of some sort or bumping into something on the track. Lady had barely spoken at all during the journey to the mountain and he was now really worried about her. The only thing he could do right now was to stay with her and do whatever he could to help her. He'd failed her in the past when that...that scourge of a diesel had almost killed her, and he wasn't going to let anything like that happen to her ever again, no matter what the cause.

"_How do you feel, Lady?"_ he asked her, his voice muffled slightly by the scarf.

_**~I feel so-so bad,~**_ her trembling voice quietly replied. _**~I-I'm so d-d-disorientated. Everything is spinning round and round and I-I can't see anymore. I-I think I've gone blind. What's -wrong with me, Burnett?~**_

"_I don't know, my love. I just don't kn-"_

Suddenly, a loud **WHOOSH **took Burnett by surprise as, despite Lady's fire being almost out, more of the foul, black smoke started to pour out of her stack and steam valves.

"_This shouldn't be happening,"_ he cried out. _"Your fire's too low for smoke like this!"_

_**~MY MAGIC!**_~ screamed Lady. _**~IT'S FAILING!~**_

"_LADY!"_

_**~Burnett!~**_ Lady cried out weakly. _** ~Listen carefully! You've got to g-go back to the b-b-beginning. It's the only thing you can d-d-do!~**_

"_Lady? What do you mean?"_

_**~Got to...got to start it all again!~**_

"_What are you trying to say, Lady? I've got to start your fire up again?"_

_**~No! Not that! Start it all again. Before... before they all return...~**_

"_Return? Who's going to return, Lady?"_

_**~No, Burnett. You d-d-don't understand. They'll return t-t-to where they came from!~**_

"_Lady, I don't understand what you're telling me!"_

_**~The engines...they're...they're going to return from where they came.~**_

"_What engines?"_

_**~Sodor...The Sodor engines will return...~**_

"_What do you mean? Where did they go to?"_

_**~Not where...What! They didn't go anywhere, but they will return!~**_

"_Return? From where? Lady, you're not making any sense!"_

_**~They'll go back to where they c-c-came from!~**_

"_But, Lady, if they didn't go anywhere, how can they go back there?"_

_**~You don't know about them. They'll return to the b-b-beginning. Where it all s-s-started.~**_

"_Lady, what-"_

_**~Go! Go, Burnett! Quickly. Go to Sodor! Go, before it's t-t-too late. Tell him, t-t-tell Topham Hatt. Tell him HE'S GOT TO OPEN THE BOX. Burnett, something else you must remember...Tell him...tell that the engines must never know what's inside it!~**_

ooo

Feeling clean and shiny again under the glow of the marshalling yard's arc-lights, Thomas and Percy reversed together into the engine shed where their friends were waiting for them. The bigger steam engines, Gordon, Henry and James, greeted them.

_**~Hello, Thomas. Hello, Percy,~**_ they chorused together.

~_**My, my,~**_ said Gordon. _** ~You two look quite miserable. Young Percy looks as though he's been crying. Have you two been arguing again?~**_

_**~No, no we haven't,~**_ huffed Thomas, indignantly. _**~We've just... we've just had a bad day, that's all. Nothing for you to be concerned about. We're both tired and we want to go to sleep without any more fuss, if that's alright with all of you?~**_

_**~Oo-er!~ **_said James, knowing that his little blue friend had been acting rather cranky just recently. _** ~We ARE touchy tonight! Well, something's upset you both. Do you want to tell us about it?~**_ he asked the troubled pair.

Henry'd seen Diesel 10 slink past the engine sheds earlier on and knew that there was a possibility that the two smaller engines had had a confrontation with him. The big diesel had always had it in for the steam engines on Sodor, he knew, but tended to only bother the smaller ones. Henry knew that Diesel 10 wouldn't directly confront the larger steam engines like him and Gordon because they outnumbered him, but it just wasn't right that the little engines should suffer so much from the green bully. He didn't know why Sir Topham and the drivers put up with his antics. Their drivers were next to useless, anyway, as they were only there in case of breakdown or accidents, and they didn't want to interfere in the engines' squabbles if they wanted a quiet day. He pondered over Thomas as he closed his eyes to prepare himself for sleep. _It's just so sad that everyone can't just get along with each other, _he thought to himself.

Thomas didn't want to tell James and the others what had been happening to him because he knew that the larger engines would no doubt laugh at him and tell him to pull himself together. _It's not fair,_ he thought, as he settled down for sleep. _That big green bully never bothers the bigger engines, only us small steamies. It's the same with the other diesels as well, well, maybe not all of them. There are one or two that are friendly with us steamies, but the rest of them, well,_ _they can all rust to pieces as far as I'm concerned._

_**~No, not tonight,~**_ he murmured sleepily to his red friend. _**~Maybe another time.~**_

ooo

Burnett drove his pick-up as fast as he could to Shining Time Station. It was supposed to have been a sunny afternoon but that foul black smoke was blotting out the light from the sun and now, a mist had fallen and it was raining, a most horrible, cold and oily rain indeed. Large drops, too big to be natural rain, falling slower than they should gave an eerie effect to the scenery around him as once they hit the ground, they congealed together into pools of black slime and his pick-up had slid once or twice when he'd had to apply the brakes to slow down for a corner. The only thing going well for him in his hurried drive to Shining Time Station and the magic tunnel was that his eyes had finally stopped watering. They still ached, though, and despite the fact that his vision was a lot clearer, he needed to use his headlights to see the road in front of him.

As he came up to a level crossing that Lady had travelled over on her way back to Muffle Mountain, he stopped the pick-up, got out a rag that he kept inside the glove compartment, and stepped climbed to the roadside. He walked over to beside the track, crouched down and carefully scooped up a sample of the black slag that Lady's gold shavings had turned into. Quickly putting them into a pocket of his engineer's overalls, he climbed back into his pick-up and carried on to Shining Time.

As he drove along, he could see the black smoke now and again where it still hung over the rail track, and that's where it was at it's thickest. The thin tendrils reaching down to the ground looked like tree roots searching for water, but instead of sucking up water, they seemed to be pulsing as though they were sending something into the ground. The smoke that had spread out above the fields and woods wasn't as thick and black as the main cloud, but it still made the afternoon seem as though dusk had fallen early.

His lungs had been badly affected by the smoke he'd already breathed in, as he'd been coughing violently for most of the journey from Muffle Mountain, and he hoped that he'd get to Shining Time before he passed out and crashed. He had to get to the station and to Sodor. If Lady died for good this time, he knew it would be the end of all the railroad magic. _What would happen after that?_ he wondered. He struggled to dispel his worries and concentrate on his driving instead, but it was proving to be a near-impossible task. _Just another ten minutes or so,_ he thought to himself, _and I'll be there!_

Shining Time, under the black cloud of smoke and the grey mist, was like a ghost town he might see in a horror film. There was nobody about on the streets and all the doors and windows were closed. It seemed to Burnett that everybody must have gone home to escape the effects of the black smoke. He had no idea what it would eventually do to anyone that breathed it in. All he knew was that his lungs ached with every breath he took and that his eyes were sore. As to what else the smoke was doing to him, he couldn't guess, though he feared that whatever it was, it had to be bad. He'd never seem smoke like this in all his life.

Stopping his pick-up outside Shining Time station, he climbed out and glanced around as he ran toward the entrance. The street outside looked as though everyone had closed early for the day, as deserted as it was, but then, through one of the station's windows, he noticed that there was still a light on in the general office, and he ran through the large falling raindrops and burst in, stopping in his tracks as he saw that the smoke had somehow gotten inside. To his horror, through the grey haze that filled the office, he could see Stacy Jones slumped over the counter, and she wasn't moving. He couldn't phone for help, he realised, because she'd knocked the phone onto the floor and the mouthpiece had broken off the receiver.

"_Stacy!"_ he called, but she neither replied nor moved. Quickly, he reached down to pick up her right arm to check for a pulse with his fingertips, then let out a sigh of relief as he detected a faint but steady beat.

"_Stacy! Wake up!"_ he called out again, gently lifting her up off the counter to sit her back in her chair.

He held her chin up with his left hand and used his right to pick up a glass of water from her desk and hold it near her lips, ready for her to take a sip from it when she came round. _If she comes round, that is,_ he thought, sadly. Tutting as he noticed little oily specks floating in the water, he poured it onto the floor and reached over behind Stacy's chair to the water dispenser and pushed the glass against the tap-lever to pour some fresh water into the glass.

"_Stacy! Can you hear me?"_ he asked, and still there was no reply.

Looking round for a cushion or something else that was soft enough, and not seeing anything, he put the glass back on the desk and picked up a couple of tourist magazines, putting them on top the desk's blotter pad to act as a pillow. Carefully, he placed Stacy's arms over the top of the desk and her head on top of the magazines. He softly kissed the back of her head, murmuring to her that he'll phone for help from Sodor and wished her speedy recovery from whatever it is that's affecting her. He then looked over to the little signal box in the mural on the wall where Mr. Conductor lived. To his horror, the body of the small man lay equally as motionless on the shelf just below the signal box's entrance door. In one of the man's hands he could see the chain of Mr. C's small whistle hanging down over the edge of the wooden ledge the little station manager would stand when he chatted with people.

Burnett leapt over to the still man, hoping that it wasn't too late to save him and to make him comfortable until he recovered, but as he checked for any signs of life, his heart fell with a great sadness as he realised that it was too late. Mr. C was dead, and not even his own magic had saved him from the black foulness that was spreading everywhere.

Burnett turned his head to look around the office and saw the two elderly women that liked to sit and knit as they chatted in the station's waiting area, and they were unconscious, maybe dead, as well. The women were sitting as still as statues with their knitting resting on their laps, several balls of coloured wool on the floor now covered with a layer of black dust that was trying to hide the red, yellow, green and blue they'd been knitting into sweaters. The smoke had obviously affected everyone in the station, he thought with some bitterness. Still, he thought, he had to get to Sodor. The only way to save everyone was to get help from Sir Topham Hatt and whatever it was inside the box that he was to open.

Carefully, he prised open Mr. Conductor's lifeless fingers and plucked the blackened little whistle from his tiny hand and watched as it enlarged to fit snugly inside his own. He wiped off the thin film of oily black dust that was on it with his handkerchief, after all, he didn't want to swallow any more of that foul stuff; he was suffering enough as it was. He gently shook the whistle by his ear, listening to the grains of sparkle moving about inside. _Thank goodness something's going right for me,_ he thought, as he hung the whistle's thin long chain around his neck

"_I'm so sorry, my friend,"_ he whispered, looking down at the small body laying on the shelf. _"May you be at peace wherever you are."_

He raised the whistle up to his lips and, focusing his thoughts on the tunnel painted on the mural in front of him, blew the whistle three times, suddenly feeling himself being pulled inside the tunnel and onto the magic railroad that would take him to the Island of Sodor.

ooo

Thomas was having a wonderful dream, despite his earlier woes. He was racing along his branch line with his two coaches, Annie and Clarabel, chatting away behind him. They were running on time and all was going well. Every bridge they went under had people standing on it, waving and cheering at him as he went under and back out the other side. He'd even beaten his friend, Bertie the Bus, to the previous station where he'd been congratulated by Sir Topham for his excellent behaviour as he raced by. He tooted his whistle back to the onlookers standing on the bridge and wondered what that clanking sound he could hear was. He hoped he hadn't snapped a connecting rod or broken a link somewhere, but he carried on regardless. No, he thought, the clanking sound was coming from behind him, and he hoped that nothing had happened to Annie or Clarabel. No, the noise wasn't behind him, he suddenly realised, and it wasn't coming from the two coaches, either. No, it was coming from above him, and it was getting closer and closer and louder and LOUDER...

_**~GO FASTER, THOMAS**__,~_ screamed Annie and Clarabel together. _**~HE'S ALMOST GOT YOU!~**_

ooo

Burnett was feeling too disoriented to notice much of what was going on as he flew through the haze of grey mist that had somehow followed him onto the magic railroad. His only thought was to stay conscious enough to get the message to Sir Topham Hatt. Even if he himself succumbed to the effects of the foul black smoke, he had to do whatever he could to ensure that Lady was saved. He'd let her down in the past and it wasn't going to happen again, he swore. She was all he had to live for now.

After what seemed like forever and far too long but was in fact a mere fraction of time, Burnett found himself stumbling out from between the magical buffers and into the darkness that was the Island of Sodor. He cursed softly, fearing the worst, and then felt quite foolish as he realised that Sodor was several hours ahead of where he'd just come from and that it was the blackness of night that he could seeing, not the black smoke. He looked up and was gratified to see countless tiny pin-pricks of light from the stars high above him. Then looked down, and couldn't even see his own feet in the pitch-blackness around him, not until his sore eyes got used to the dark. He stood still for a few minutes to get his breath back and for his eyes to become accustomed to the low level of light.

Soon, he was just about able to make out the faint shine of a twin set of rails and stepped forward carefully, not wanting to trip over either the two rails or the wooden sleepers he was stepping on. He could hardly see where he was going anyway and the last thing he wanted to do was to stumble and knock himself out. He pondered for a few moments on the best thing to do; whether to walk for help or use Mr. C's whistle. He wondered where Sir Topham was likely to be right now and decided that Hatt Hall would be the best bet. Focusing his thoughts on Sir Topham's elegant home, he brought Mr C's whistle to his lips and took a deep breath, but then he coughed rather violently and felt something moist hit the back of his hand. _Oh, God, _he thought. _ I hope it's not blood_.

Instead of blowing into the whistle, he dug around in his pockets for his small torch and used it to check what he'd just coughed up. Thankfully, it wasn't blood, but when he touched the moist lump with his fingertip it felt gritty, and he saw he pulled his fingertip away, he saw, in the torchlight, tiny little tendrils stretching from the globule of moisture up to his fingertip_._ _ "Oh, no,"_ he gasped. _I can't use the whistle now or I'll contaminate the rest of the sparkle!_ Wiping the back of his hand on a clump of grass beside the track, he sighed heavily and started to make his way along the track towards where it joined onto the main line. _Walking it is, then! _he thought to himself.

He recalled from his previous time on Sodor that it was only a short distance away, and then only about a half mile to the next station. _If there aren't any trains that I can flag down,_ he thought, _I'll just have to try my luck on the road and stop a car._ As he set off, he failed to see a thin wisp of grey mist slowly forming around the mess he'd just wiped on the grass as it got bigger and bigger until it reached up into the star-lit sky above Sodor. Though not as concentrated or as strong as that which had wreaked such havoc in Shining Time, it would soon be strong enough to create its own level of chaos and despair.

The cloud of grey mist lengthened somewhat and a thin tendril stretched out from its leading edge as the cloud drifted in the light breeze. The tendril paused its movement for a few seconds, just like the tongue of a snake sensing vibrations in the air around it, and, just like a snake striking out once it recognised its prey as being close enough to bite, the tendril stretched out and up high into the night air, away from the area of the magical buffers, expanding just like a balloon with even more black tendrils growing out of the cloud as it absorbed lingering magic from the magic portal's use when the Sodor engines had travelled through it to take Lady's coal to her.

After reaching the main line, stopping several times due to severe bouts of coughing and to catch his breath, Burnett reckoned he must have been walking for a good half hour before he came upon a small platform. A single solitary lit bulb on one end of a wooden shelter enabled him to see enough to climb the half-dozen concrete steps onto the platform and to look around for a phone booth. Not seeing one anywhere, he decided to check the timetable affixed to the shelter below the light. Checking the time on his watch in the soft yellow glow, and calculating the difference in hours, he was relieved to see that there was an hourly service due fairly soon. _Things are looking up,_ he thought to himself. He'd knew he'd never be able to walk all the way to Hatt Hall in his current state.

Soon, the ringing of a bell and the sound of an engine announced the impending arrival of the hourly service. Although he was sure that he was illuminated enough by the light on the shelter, he stepped near the edge of the platform and waved his lit torch about so that he'd be sure to be seen. As the faint glow from a lamp at the front of the approaching train got brighter and brighter, Burnett saw that it was a skirted tram engine pulling a single coach. Now at the small station, it slowed down and stopped.

"_Thank goodness,"_ wheezed Burnett, recognising Toby. _"I've got to get to Sir Topham Hatt,"_ he said to the tramcar. _ "It's life or death. Lady's losing her magic and I've got to give him an urgent message."_

_**~Who are you?~**_ Toby asked the tired and ill-looking man currently standing on the platform.

Toby knew who Lady was, though, as he'd helped Thomas that time when Diesel 10 and his cronies had made plans to destroy the magical buffers connecting Sodor with Shining Time Station, but although this man's face did seem familiar, he couldn't quite put a name to him, though he could sense that he was connected to the magic railway in some way.

"_I'm Burnett Stone. I'm Lady's engineer."_

_**~Of course,~**_ exclaimed Toby. _**~I remember you now. If Lady's in trouble, then you'd better get inside my cab and tell me what's wrong with her. I'm sure we can all help in some way.~**_

Burnett climbed into Toby's cab and they set off. Burnett told Toby of Lady's strange sickness and the foul black smoke that was making everyone, including himself. very ill as well as killing Mr. C.

_**~This is very bad news, Henrietta,~**_ Toby called back to his long-time friend. _**~This is too important for us to be worried about running early. We've got to get to back Knapford as quickly as we can.~**_

Toby wasn't really built or designed for great speed, especially with a coach behind him, and this fact became apparent as they neared one particular bend. Due to the difficult financial state the Sodor railways were experiencing, repairs to the tracks where prioritised as to their urgency, and it was merely due to the fact that all the engines that used this particular line were aware that this section of track was gradually getting looser and looser over time and they all slowed down so as not to put too much pressure on the weakening tracks. The fact that it was scheduled for repair the very next week when Sir Topham's cashflow situation was looking a bit better was rather ironic, for the accident that happened next had been becoming more likely, and it only needed something unusual to happen and disaster would strike.

In his rush to get Burnett Stone to Knapford as quickly as he could, Toby only realised where he was at the last moment, but it was too late and he couldn't slow down in time. The length of rail suddenly found that it couldn't handle the extreme force that was suddenly being imposed upon it as Toby hurtled round the bend, and as soon as the tram engine went over the weakest point, it was forced out from the last few spikes holding it in place. Toby was, of course, derailed. It wouldn't have mattered much if he was travelling at the slow speed that he ought to have been, but Toby had been going way too fast, and as his wheels bounced over the sleepers, he tipped over onto his side, pulling poor Henrietta down with him. Fortunately, Henrietta didn't have any passengers inside. Unfortunately, Burnett had been thrown out of Toby's cab and hit the rocky ground quite forcibly, rolling over and banging his head on a large stone.

ooo

Thomas was panicking. He didn't know who or what it was that was chasing him. All he knew was that he mustn't be caught, but thankfully, he was nearing a tunnel. Maybe that would help him get away from his pursuer.

Thomas sped up and his boiler felt as though it was going to burst at the seams with the effort he was putting into it. Annie and Clarabel were still screaming with fear, which only added to his despair. The entrance to the tunnel was getting nearer and nearer, and the clanking was getting even nearer and louder every second. Then he heard a loud voice.

_**~You can't run away from me, you horrible little engine. I'm gonna get you and smash you to bits!~**_

Thomas couldn't let himself get caught. He strained and squeezed and managed to pick up a little bit more speed. The smoke was absolutely belching out of his chimney and he thought he was going to pass out with all the effort he was putting into it, but he just had to get into that tunnel to be safe, not only for himself, but for Annie and Clarabel as well. He didn't want them to get caught either.

At last, he raced into the tunnel and safety, but in the blackness around him, he could heard his pursuer growl, _**I've got you now, Thomas!~**_

_**~NOOOOOOoooooo...~**_ he wailed.

He couldn't stop now. He'd never been this fast before, not even when he and Lady were being chased by Diesel 10 that time he'd helped her to get her magic back. He could feel his wheels wobble with the effort he was putting into escaping this nightmare, and he was straining so hard that it was making him cough. He was still surrounded by blackness of the tunnel, but he could see light from the tiny blurry exit in the distance and soon he'd be out in the fresh air again. As he got nearer to the exit, he noticed that it was still rather blurry, so he blinked several times to clear his itchy eyes.

The tunnel exit grew bigger and bigger the nearer he got to it. The only problem, thought Thomas, was that his wheels felt as though they were going to fall off, leaving him to crash onto the wooden sleepers and lie there helpless as his pursuer finally caught up to him and smashed him to bits.

Finally, Thomas exited the tunnel, still running as fast as his legs could carry him. _Legs?_ His lungs were aching and his head hurt. _Lungs? Head?_ Thomas looked down and gasped at what he saw, then cried in alarm as he tripped over a wooden sleeper and stumbled onto the wooden sleepers with such a jolt that he woke, sitting up with the intensity of his frightful dream.

ooOOoo


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 

As the early-morning sunlight lit up the inside of the engine shed, Thomas shook his head to clear away any lingering memories of his ordeal, and thought, _That was the most horrible dream I've ever had. _He raised his hands up to his face and started to rub his eyes with the backs of his fingers to help him wake up and face the new day. Suddenly, he froze, shocked with the realisation of just what he was actually doing, then he lowered his hands and stared at them, thinking that once his eyes got used to the low light level that he'd see that he'd been mistaken, and then wiggled his... _fingers? _ Yes, that was what they're called, he thought, no, not thought, he _knew_ what they were called, and what he was seeing was really there!_ Black? _ Then he realised that he was wearing gloves. _I've got fingers? Hands? Arms? _ He knew somehow that he could fold his...his elbows, and he could even wave his, yes, he could wave his arms about in front of him_. What's going on? Where are my buffers? This is all wrong, I'm a steam engine! It's people like Sir Topham Hatt and real people that have arms, not an engine like me. Engines have buffers. Am I still asleep and this is some kind of dream that I can't wake up from? _ He tried to wake himself up by forcing his eyes to open and see his buffers instead of these hands, but to his surprise and horror, they already were. It was for real!

He waved his arms again and an image of saplings being blown about in a gale popped into his mind and, as shocked as he was with all the new sensation he was feeling, he started chuckling, but his amusement died away quickly as flashes of light started to replace the scene he was picturing in his mind, then the flashes appeared all around him and even behind himself where he couldn't see, yet he could still picture them. This scared him, for how could he see flashes of light behind himself when he didn't have eyes in the back of his head? The thought that he would look very silly indeed if he _did_ have eyes in the back of his head entered his mind, bit then the flashes increased in number until they were swirling all around him, surrounding him with a very bright wall of whiteness that twisted and spun ever so fast that it was making him feel quite dizzy and nauseous, and he started to panic. He started to worry about what was going to happen to him next, and gasped as he suddenly felt himself being pulled forward, then backwards, knowing at the same time that he was still sitting stationary on the oily ground between the tracks. It felt as though he was being stretched and pulled out of his body in all directions at the same time, and just as he was about to pass out, everything suddenly stopped moving and the world seemed to explode. He shook his head from side to side as strange new ideas and thoughts, ideas and thoughts so totally unlike more meaningful than anything he was used to entered his mind, then he heard a voice calling his name over and over again...

James, too, had been having a bad night. Instead of his usual dream in which he was pulling the express coaches out of the station because Sir Topham had decided that, as his red paint was _so_ shiny and clean, he should pull the express instead of Gordon and that all the people left behind in the station would wave and cheer at him because he looked so smart and shiny, his dream was a nightmare. Instead of steaming out from under a bridge and whistling at anyone watching from above, he found himself running down one of the roads beside the track on which he'd sometimes race against Thomas all the way to the wharf, and he was panicking because he couldn't find a way to get back onto the track. What made it even worse for him was that he no longer had any red paint covering him and everyone that he passed as he ran down the road was laughing and jeering, shouting at him that they could see his bare boiler and undercarriage, and he had to get away from them quickly because he was blushing with embarrassment so much that he no longer needed any red paint to cover him! Then, finally, seeing a gap in the bushes beside the road he was on, a gap that would allow him to get back onto the track, James ran towards it, and just as he entered the gap, suddenly, everything went white and he felt himself being lifted up high into the air like a hot-air balloon before being spun around like a windmill in a hurricane. This went on for what seemed like forever before he then fell to the ground with such a bump that he woke up and screamed out loud. He sat upright, gasping for air to fill his lungs for yet another loud scream. _Lungs? I don't have lungs! What's wrong with me? _

Percy was huddled into a little ball, crying. Whilst he was sleeping, the most frightening thing had happened to him. He'd dreamt that Diesel 10 had used his mechanical arm to drop him into a hole that had suddenly opened up in the ground, and he'd fallen and fallen for so long that he thought he'd never stop falling, and he'd been frightened of what would happen to him when he _did _ stop falling and hit the bottom. He'd was fearing that he'd be smashed to bits beyond all chance of repair and he'd never be a useful engine ever again and Sir Topham would send all his broken bits to the scrapyard and then the big green bully would drop bits of his broken body into a big pot of molten metal where they'd be melted down and he'd never be able to puff around the Island of Sodor again! Eventually, after falling for what had seemed like hours and hours, he'd splashed into a sea of white that spun him round and round like a giant whirlpool before throwing him back to the land, and now he was awake, awake and bruised after bumping his forehead on the wooden sleeper below him. He uncurled, turned onto his back and brought his hands to his face to wipe away his tears, and as his fingers made contact with his eyelids, he suddenly stopped crying, shocked with this new sensation, and asked himself, _What am I doing? I've never been able to do this before! _

Henry opened his eyes and wished he hadn't. His head had been spinning round and round so much he thought it was going to spin off and roll along the track and then he'd have to chase after it and all the Troublesome Trucks would giggle and laugh at him. His worries were ended, however, when a sudden jolt had woken him up, and now he felt as though the world was ending. It wasn't his head spinning round and round, it was the things _inside_ his head that were spinning round that was making him feel dizzy. Pictures in his mind that had such depth of quality and detail to them that he felt as though he could touch them. Words that sounded so strange but at the same time quite meaningful in their unexpected familiarity, and ideas that lit up his mind like fireworks exploding in the night-time sky, thoughts that led him down so many different paths that he thought he'd get lost and never find his way back again. Thoughts that whirled around inside his mind continually and he couldn't stop any of them, and he was so confused by it all. _And I ache rather badly as well, _ he thought. _"Ooh," _ he quietly moaned, and rubbed his forehead with his hand, not yet realising the enormity of what he was actually doing.

Gordon had just gone through what he considered to be the worst thing he'd ever experienced in his life, and as he sat on his rear inside the engine shed, his elbows on his knees and his head resting in his hands, he wondered how the other engines had managed to leave the shed without him hearing them. Then a loud scream made him look up in alarm. He quickly looked to his left and saw a man dressed in a long red coat sitting where James had been the previous night, looking down at himself in panic. He wondered who the man was and where James had gone to, and then noticed that there were more odd-looking men sitting or lying on the tracks where the other engines had been the previous night. Every one of them was moaning or groaning about something that ailed them. What was weird about it all was that the men were dressed in long leather coats that matched the colours of the engines that had previously been resting there. One red, two green, and one blue, he counted. He looked down at himself and gasped as he realised for the first time since waking that he, too, was dressed in a long coat that was the same blue colour as his painted bodywork. He saw that his coat had red buttons and trimming on its edges and cuffs, and that was when he noticed his hands, hands as black as coal. He wiggled his fingers and realised that they were black because he was wearing skin-tight gloves. He started to take the glove off his left hand but found that he couldn't, nor, when he tried, could he unbutton his long coat; the buttons were stuck fast! He slowly shook his head from side to side, not at all liking what he was seeing and thought that it was some horrible trick being played on him by one of the tank engines. _Maybe they put something in my water tank when I was asleep last night,_ he thought, _and making me have a dream that seems so real. There's no telling what oil in my water will do to me! _

With the extra light from the rising sun starting to reveal more detail to his surroundings, he just sat there, taking note of what each of the men were doing. The red-coated man that had just screamed was now panting and gasping for air whilst the smaller of the two green-coated men, in fact, the quite podgy, green-dressed man, he mused, was quietly sobbing where Percy had previously been sleeping. The larger of the green-coated men, sitting where Henry had been, was quietly moaning to himself, and the blue-coated man occupying Thomas' sleeping area, after waving his arms about for several moments, was now staring into space as though he was in a trance. Not for a long time had Gordon felt so unsure of himself.

Thomas sat as still as he could, listening to his name being called. It was a familiar female, though he couldn't quite place it right then as it was taking him forever to gather his wits about him. Finally, he recognised it's soothing gentleness, though it did sound somewhat strained and weak, and he realised that it was Lady calling him. Thomas frowned, as far as he knew, she wasn't due to come to the Island of Sodor any time in the near future. He heard her call to him again and he looked around trying to see where she was before remembering that it was inside his head that he was hearing her.

_**What is it, Lady?**__**Where are you? **_ he called. _**Do you know what's happened to me? **_ He didn't appear to hear the other engines moaning, or notice that Gordon had turned his head to look oddly at him.

_**Thomas, at last! **_ Lady replied. _**Something…something really terrible has happened to me. I'm in Muffle Mountain and I can't move, and...and my firebox is giving out the most f-f-foulest black smoke I've ever seen. I need your help, Thomas. **_

_**Lady, I'm-,**_ started Thomas, but he paused and looked down at his new body as he sat on the track, then across at where the other engines were supposed to be and, for a very brief moment that weighed heavier than the heaviest wagons he'd ever pulled, the realisation that what had happened to him had happened to the other engines in the shed as well.

_**All of us, **_ he said to her,_** Gordon, Henry, James and Percy, we...we're not engines anymore! What's happened to us? **_

_**Oh, Thomas! My dear, dear, Thomas. My...my magic has almost all gone and I need you and your friends to help me before it becomes too late and you all return to wha-, before it's too late to set things right again. There…there's something very wrong with my magic. Something's affecting me and...and I don't know what it is. My fire's gone out but...but my stack is still smoking and...and I don't know what's going to happen to me. I need your help, Thomas, before...before it's too late! **_

Thomas slowly stood up and again looked around the engine shed, slightly startled to see the red-coated man standing in front of him. Sighing heavily, he replied, _**Lady...if your magic is as weak as you say it is, it...it's already too late! **_

James, finally getting his breath back, looked over to where Gordon was supposed to be and spluttered, _"I-I've just had the most horrible nightmare. I dreamt I didn't have my shiny red paint anymore and everyone was laughing at me. It was terrible. I'm glad I'm awake now, tho-" _and stared at the man sitting where his friend Gordon was supposed to be.

Gordon didn't like the way this was going at all. After staring at the trance-like man sitting where Thomas had gone to sleep last night, and studying his round, chubby-cheeked face, he'd come to the horrible realisation of what was wrong, and that the man sitting there was in fact the small tank engine, Thomas. _Well, something's wrong all right; me and the other engines look like humans, that's what's wrong. _

He heard the red-coated man start complaining about a dream he'd just had and, looking over at him, he dourly replied, _"Are you sure you're glad to be awake, James? Look again! It's not shiny red paint I can see on you." _

James sprang to his feet, gasping in surprise at the physical feat he'd just performed and looked down at his body._ "Oh, no," _he cried out._ "What's happened to me. I look like a human! Where's my shiny red paint gone?" _

He grabbed at the red leather overcoat he was wearing and groaned, _"Urgh! What's this? It feels horrible! What's wrong with me? Where's my boiler gone?" _

James then looked down at the droll-sounding man that was sitting on the track and saw a middle-aged man with a round, chubby, ashen-looking face, a pointy nose and glossy black hair frowning up at him. The man was wearing a leather overcoat similar to his own, but it was shiny blue instead of the shiny red that his coat was. Then he noticed that the man's overcoat had shiny red buttons and red edging along the edges and the cuffs of his sleeves, similar to the gold edging, cuffs and buttons that _he_ had.

The amusing thought that it was almost a parody of how he normally looked silenced his complaining, especially when he noticed a gold-coloured number four embroidered on a top pocket of the man's coat. James didn't know what to make of what was happening to him. His mouth dropped open with he realised that he could not only instantly think about things such as how overcoats were manufactured but also many more concepts a lot more complicated than that. He'd never ever imagined that he could think of these things in such abstract terms, and _that_ thought surprised him even more. He looked around the engine shed and saw three other people where his friends were supposed to be, and he asked the seated man, _"Who are you? Where have Gordon the engine and my other friends gone to?" _

Looking over to the other people, he called out, _"Who are all you?" _

Gordon "hrrmphed" to clear his throat, and pointing to the other blue-coated man, said, _"Look at Thomas over by there. I'm getting a bit worried about him." _

James looked to where Thomas was supposed to be and saw another blue-coated, black-haired and slightly plump, middle-aged man sitting motionless on the track He walked over, looked at the front of his cost and saw that he, too, had a number embroidered on his pocket. _"Huh?" _ grunted an open-mouthed James.

He then looked again at the two other men sitting or laying between the rails. They, too, were dressed in a similar fashion to himself and the man that shared the same number as his friend, Gordon, but they had shiny green coats with red edging, buttons and cuffs instead. Before he could say anything, the man sitting down by his feet got up and looked around, and James studied him closely. He was shorter than James, with a chubby, round-ish face and short, glossy black hair. He had the number one embroidered on his coat pocket, and right now, he looked very worried about something. James, his mouth still hanging open, watched as this 'Thomas' fellow continued to stare into space.

_**Lady, has what's happened to me and the other engines happened all over the island? If it has, I can't see how we can help you. What about Burnett? Can he help you? I don't know if any of the trucks and coaches have been affected by what's happened, but if they have been, well, I just don't kn- **_

_**Thomas...there…there is only one way to save me and I know that you'll find it. You've always been a really useful engine. You're a friend...a friend I can truly rely on, and I know that I ca…can rely on you this time as well. **_

_**Is Burnett Stone there with you? Why can't he help you? **_

_**Burnett managed to get me back to Muffle Mountain but then, when I got worse, I told him to go. I gave him a really, really important task to do and...and I'm all alone now. Thomas, I'm frightened. I...I hav…mu…ime…left! Help me, Thomassss…Pleeeeeaaaasssase...~ **_

"_Lady! Lady!" _ Thomas suddenly shouted in James' face, causing the red-coated man to step back in surprise._ "Can you hear me, Lady?" _

Thomas' breath hitched as he thought that Lady must have finally succumbed to whatever it was that was ailing her. Then, looking around at the other eng-, men in the engine shed with him, he blurted out, _"Guys!Ladysintroub-" _

"_Stop right there, Thomas," _ Gordon cut in. _"Take some slow, deep breaths to compose yourself before you make yourself ill." _

Thomas ran over to Gordon. _"Bu-but…butyoudontrea-" _

"_Thomas," _ soothed Gordon, as he stood up and grabbed the short blue-coated man by his shoulders. He gently pushed him down to sit on one of the iron rails. _"Sit there, take it easy, and when you've calmed down, then you can explain to us what's happened. Okay?" _

"_Bu-, okay," _ said Thomas grudgingly, seeing the stern look that Gordon was giving him.

Desperate as he was to tell his friends of Lady's plight, he knew that Gordon was right. It had happened before when he'd gotten too excited to explain himself properly and the other engines had laughed themselves silly as he'd tried to speak with no sound coming from him except for a couple of weak peep-peeps coming from his whistle. This time, though, he knew it was important that he explained everything clearly for they just didn't know how much time they had left before…before something else happened. Just what else was likely to happen, he didn't know, but Gordon was wise, maybe he'd know what they could do to help save Lady.

"_Ladysillweve-," _ he gasped out. _"WevegottohelpLadyshesaidtha-" _

"_Calm down, Thomas," _ Gordon said. This time, with a hint of anger in his voice_. "Start at the very beginning, okay?" _

"_R-r-right, okay." _Thomas took a slow, deep breath, and said, _"I was having a bad dream and when I woke up, I...I wasn't an engine anymore. I had arms and hands and fingers and then bright lights surrounded me and then Lady was calling me. She said that she's very ill and that her boiler's giving out some sort of foul black smoke even though her fire's out and she can't move and Burnett Stone has gone somewhere with an important task. We've got to save her before it's too late!" _ The effort of saying all that meant that Thomas started gasping for breathe again.

"_And what happens when it's too late?" _ asked James, worriedly. By now, he'd come to accept that he was in fact a human with a shiny red coat instead of shiny red paint. He tried to recall exactly when he'd stopped questioning what had happened to him but Thomas' tale of Lady's woe had swept his own worries to one side.

"_I-I just don't know," _ said Thomas, sadly. _"Lady went all quiet and I think she'd gotten worse and, and then...then she didn't answer me." _

"_I see," _ said Gordon. _"I think we need to go and see Sir Topham Hatt and explain to him what's happened. He'll know what to do." _

"_Henry," _ commanded Gordon, determined to take control of the situation before the other eng-, er, former engines, started to panic. _"You've heard what's happening so get up off the track and help young Percy over by there. He's obviously upset and he needs us bigger eng-, yes, us bigger engines to help him get used to this...this thing that's happened to us. We know we're become like people now, but we're still who we were even though we're not who we are now. Um, well, you know what I mean. Come along, it's going to take us a while to get to Knapford Station with human legs instead of wheels." _

"_Oh, yes," _he added as an afterthought, offering his right hand towards the red-coated man standing by Thomas, _"Good Morning to you, James!" _

ooo

Behind the steam engines' shed, a group of young teenagers dressed in grey tracksuits stood giggling amongst themselves as they each suggested various pranks they could play now that they were no longer limited to being pulled by the engines and being roughly bumped by the shunting locos and that big red monstrosity, James. One of the giggling children pointed to the coal piles and they ran off towards them. There was so much fun they could have playing with coal. One young boy stayed behind, however, for he didn't feel like laughing or playing any pranks at all, as he had a much more serious matter than pranks to be concerned about. He'd always felt out of place amongst the Troublesome Trucks, and now something had happened to make him become even more aware of his misery. He knew full well that the others had always called him the Unhappy Truck and now, now it hurt him in ways that he couldn't even begin to understand. He lowered his head and started to cry. Stumbling as he made his way across the tracks, he headed toward the woods beside the marshalling yards to find somewhere to be alone with his heavy sorrow.

ooo

As the five friends walked to Knapford Station, James walked between Thomas and Henry, playing with the buttons on his coat and recalling the time when he'd met Lady after they'd discovered the magical buffers that connected Sodor with Shining Time Station. It was really horrible what Diesel 10 had been trying to do to Mr. Conductor and the magical engine, and he was glad that Thomas had helped on that occasion to save the day. He hoped that Thomas, no, not just Thomas this time, but all of them, that they could all help in some way to discover what it was that had caused Lady to become unwell and for her magic to fail. Secretly, though, he hoped it wouldn't take too long as he didn't really want to wait any longer than necessary before he could have his shiny red paint back again.

Henry was trying to ignore Gordon as he went on and on about how it was right that it was the duty of the bigger engines to help in this matter, and that Thomas, no matter how brave or helpful he felt he was, was only a small engine, er, human now, and he would have to leave it to the bigger eng-, the bigger of his friends to sort it all out. _This is so confusing, _ thought Henry. _Am I an engine dreaming that I'm a human, or am I a human that dreamt he was an engine? _He glanced over at the trees that grew alongside the tracks between the marshalling yards and Knapford Station and wondered what it would be like just to wander amongst them and forget about all his confusing thoughts. He really liked trees, they weren't confusing at all.

Gordon, on the other hand, was well into his stride now. Whereas everyone would have appealed to the wiser blue engine, Edward, for advice, the fact that Edward was on an extended journey to Manchester returning some coaches meant that it was an opportunity for he, Gordon, a big and strong eng-, er, human, to save the day. Thomas and the other smaller engines, even after they'd somehow become transformed into humans, were still small and weak when compared to Henry, James and himself, well maybe not so much James, when he thought about it, nor Edward. For too many times now the other engines had been accusing him of being full of bluster and bravado, and by showing that he had the strength and wisdom to solve this problem, well, it would show them all that he was a hum-, no, engine, that meant what he said. The only problem he had, thought Gordon, as they got nearer the station platform, was that he had to remember that he was a human now, not an engine, and that he wasn't as big and strong as what he used to be.

A slight tickle in his throat reminded him of the coughing fit he'd had during the night. It had woken him up once and he wasn't able to see anything at the time because his eyes had been so itchy and raw. He also recalled that there was the most horrible smell in the air, rather similar to rotting logs of wood. _No,_ he decided, getting back to the here and now, _things are so different now I'm reduced in size and strength._ He wondered if he could come out of this whole affair without making a big fool of himself in front of the smaller engines.

As Thomas and Percy walked together behind their taller friends, Thomas repeated to the chubby little man what Lady had said about her magic failing. Percy, though, was feeling quite miserable with the way things were now, and he didn't think that he could do much to help Thomas to save the magical engine. It was only when Thomas told him that Sir Topham would know what to do and how they could all play their part to get things right again that he felt a bit more cheerful. Percy decided, as long as Thomas was there to give him encouragement, he'd be able to deal with this new world he'd been shocked to find himself in.

As the level of their separate conversations died down to a silence that was only broken by the clump-clump of their heavy tread on the wooden sleepers, Thomas was puzzling about something. When Lady had spoken to him, he somehow sensed that something wasn't quite right. There was something about what she said, or nearly said, that worried him. _Yes, there was definitely something about the way she was speaking, something apart from whatever it was that was affecting her, _ he decided. It was as though she was trying to hide something from him, and he felt quite confused by it all. He had great affection for the little magical engine, and he trusted her, loved her even, but there was something in the back of his mind that he just couldn't quite put his finger on. He looked down to his hands and wiggled his fingers, thinking how strange they, together with his new way of thinking, seemed to amuse him. So strange, so funny, and yet, so apt.

ooo

The crying teenager, after wandering about inside the woods for several minutes, found a relatively comfortable-looking tree stump that he could sit on. After another minute, during which the worst moment of his existence had replayed itself over and over again in his mind, a heaviness so totally unlike anything he'd ever experienced filled his heart and he broke down into loud anguished sobs. The weight of his despair was so great, so heavy, heavier than the heaviest load that he'd ever carried, that no matter how much he tried not to think of what he'd done on that terrible day, the same memory kept returning with more clarity each time the images flashed through his mind, and he sat there, sobbing until he fell off the tree stump, curling up into a ball on the ground, and wished that sleep would come and take the horrible memories away. Eventually, he did indeed, fall asleep.

ooo

At Knapford Station, Sir Topham Hatt walked quickly along the platform towards the traffic office, weaving and dodging around the mass of passengers waiting for their early-morning train, pausing only to glance up at the clock hanging from an overhead girder. _Ah, well, there's a first time for anything, _ he thought. _Thomas'll be here in five minutes, I'd better get ready to meet him. _ Sir Topham had slept late. He could only put it down to the migraine headache he'd suffered last night after going to bed. _Must have been too much red wine, _he thought. His wife, Lady Hatt, had also complained of a headache and had suggested to him that maybe she was coming down with the flu'. His bout of coughing after she'd kissed him goodnight had further convinced him that not only was he suffering a mild hangover, but there was definitely a bug going round as well.

He arrived at the traffic office door and, unsuccessful in his attempt to open it, realised that it was still locked. _That's strange, _ he thought._ Debra's normally in by now. She must have slept late as well. _ He pulled out his keys from his coat pocket and, as he started to unlock the door, a sudden loud scream from behind him stilled the early morning chatter of the waiting passengers and he froze in surprise. A second scream then followed like an echo and he quickly turned round to see what was wrong.

Looking quickly from left and right, he couldn't see anything noticable, but the screaming then continued. It sounded as though it was coming from down on the tracks and he quickly walked over to the edge, hearing the crowd of passengers behind him murmuring to each other and asking what was happening. Ignoring them, he looked down. The sight of two elderly, spinster-type women kneeling on the track, hugging each other just below the platform edge where Thomas' coaches had been the previous night, caused him to gasp out loud. It was they that were screaming, and every time one of them stopped, the other would start up again.

"_Get up off the track, you silly women,"_ he shouted loudly in order for them to hear him. _"There are engines due through here any minute now. Get off the tracks before you're both killed. Quick, get up and catch hold of my hand." _

He got down on his knees and reached over the edge of the platform to help them climb up, glancing several times in the direction of the engine shed for any sign of the engines approaching, not noticing right then how physically alike and dressed the two elderly women were.

"_Sir Topham,"_ one of them cried. _"You've got to help us. Please, what's wrongs with us?" _

After helping the second old woman up onto the platform, Sir Topham looked to the two women and said, _"What's wrong with you is that you were both only minutes from being killed. What in blazes were you doing down there, and who are you both?" _

He looked from one to the other and it was then that he noticed the similar way they were dressed. They were not only dressed alike in long, light-brown dresses and matching cardigans, but they both wore black, short heeled shoes that he could only describe as sensible, well, certainly more sensible than any reason for them to be kneeling on the tracks of a busy railway station. Not only were their clothes matching, he noticed, but they looked similar to each other as well. They both had long, thin faces with short, curly white hair, and they looked so much alike that Sir Topham believed they were in fact identical twins. The only thing that set them apart was that, instead of having the usual pearl necklaces that he would have expected to be hanging around their necks, they both had a gold necklace with their names engraved on little gold-coloured plates. He started to lean forward to read their names but stopped as he realised that, in his rush to get to the station that morning, he'd left his reading glasses at home.

Instead, he said, _"There, you're safe now. Maybe you would tell me your names and I can phone for a taxi or someone to pick you up? And maybe you could explain to me whatever it was you were both doing down on the track." _

"_Sir Topham, it's us!" _ both women gasped out together. _"You know, Annie and Clarabel!" _

"_Yes, of course I know Annie and Clarabel. They're two of my coaches." _

"_No, you don't understand, Sir Topham. WE are Annie and Clarabel." _

"_My, my," _ Sir Topham jovially replied, _"Now I see. The naming regime we've got for our rolling stock means that somewhere in the world there are bound to be people with the same names as our engines and coaches." _

"_No, no, Sir Topham. We ARE Annie and Clarabel!" _

Smiling bemusedly as he gestured towards the station's café, Sir Topham said, _"Come, would you care for a cup of tea, my dears? I'll tell you a few stories about your 'namesakes'. Tell me, though, are you both members of a local train-spotting club or something?" _

Glancing back at the now empty tracks as he gently ushered the two old ladies to the café, it was only then that Sir Topham realised that there was no sign of the two coaches. _Damn, if that Thomas hasn't left early without his passengers again, _ he thought to himself. _It looks like I'll be having strong words with him when he comes back. He know he must stick to the timetable! _

ooo

Toby opened his eyes and groaned as the morning sunlight stung his eyes. After quickly shutting them and turning his head away from the bright glare, he re-opened them and blinked a few times to get rid of the itchiness he could feel in them, then he remembered the events of last night and his sudden derailment. Groaning, he realised that he was laying on his side on the grass bank next to the track where he'd come off, and was feeling quite bruised all over. It felt so strange when he curled his arms up to his chest to hug himself, so strange in fact, that he threw his arms back out again and tried to sit up. Finding out, with a rather astonished "Ooh" that he actually could sit up, he "Ooh-ed" again as he looked down at his legs. This surprised him immensely. He thought back to the moment when he'd derailed as he raced around the bend and tipped over, but there was nothing after that. Silently, he cursed that in his rush to get to Knapford Station with Burnett Stone, he had forgotten about the loose rail. What had happened to him during the night, he wondered, for him to become a human? Was this some kind of dream he was having whilst he unconscious? _No,_ he decided, after prodding both his legs and feeling the pressure of his grey glove-covered finger poking into himself_. This is too real for it to be a dream. _ Then he remembered his dear friend.

"_Henrietta, are you all right?" _ he called out, not looking round for her yet as he was still rather fascinated by the sensation of prodding himself in various places.

"_Toby?"_ a woman's voice replied from behind him. _"Where are you? Who's that man?" _

Then a loud shriek snapped him out of his self-curiosity and he quickly looked behind, only to see that his friend had also changed during the night.

"_What's happened to me? I'm...I'm a woman!" _

Toby looked warmly at the elderly woman wearing a brown dress and cardigan that was sitting next to the track several yards behind him.

"_He-Henrietta? Tha-that's you?" _ he asked, just to confirm what he assumed to be true. _Stupid old me,_ he thought to himself, _Of course it's you._ _"Henrietta, my dear. You're...you're beautiful!" _

Slowly, he got up from where he was sitting and hobbled over to her, holding out his hand to help her get to her feet.

"_Ooh!"_ she moaned. _"I'm aching all over!" _

"_I-I don't know what's happened, my dear, only that it has, and I think it's got something to do with whatever is wrong with Lady. Do you remember what Burnett was saying to us last night?" _He reached out and gently took hold of the woman's arms and gazed lovingly at his long time friend as he waited for her to reply.

She had a homely sort of face, he thought, slightly amazed that he could notice such a thing amidst their sudden and dire predicament. She had shoulder-length grey hair that curled inwards at the bottom and deep brown eyes that seemed to sparkle, lighting up her grey-skinned face as she glanced around. Around her neck was a gold necklace with her name, 'Henrietta', engraved onto a small plate. Looking down at his own chest, he noticed a the number seven embroidered onto the top pocket of the brown jacket-type blazer he was wearing. _Most intriguing,_ he thought.

Hearing a groan several yards away to one side, he remembered with some alarm both his passenger and the urgency that had resulted in him derailing. Letting go of Henrietta, he turned round and saw Burnett Stone laying flat on his back on the bank of grass. Next to his head was a small, blood-stained rock. There was also blood on his forehead that, Toby deduced, was from where he'd obviously banged his head. His left arm had been broken when they'd crashed, and as Toby walked over to him, the shattered end of a bone could be clearly seen sticking out of his lower arm just a couple of inches up from his wrist. Thankfully, it looked as though the wound had stopped bleeding as it had started to scab over, so no major veins or arteries had been cut. Burnett gave out another groan as his eyes fluttered open.

"_Don't move,"_ Toby said to him. _"You've got a broken arm and you've got a nasty cut on your head." _

Through blurry eyes, Burnett looked up at the man speaking to him. He couldn't make out his face but he looked old. He groaned as he tried to move his head and his vision blurred again. He also felt very faint. A thumping headache and an excruciating pain in his left arm confirmed what the apparently elderly man had just said to him.

"_I feel rotten,"_ groaned Burnett. _"What happened?" _

"_We derailed," _ Toby told him. _"You fell out of my cab as we crashed. I'm aching all over and I don't know what's happened for me and Henrietta to be like this," _he added, gesturing to himself.

Burnett rapidly blinked for a few moments to clear his eyes and studied the grey-haired old man that was pointing towards himself with his finger. He was wearing a blue pair of trousers that had grass-stains on the knees, and a brown jacket and waistcoat combination with matching brown tie. The jacket had black leather elbow-patches that, Burnett thought, made him look like an elderly schoolteacher.

"_Who...who are you?" _ he asked. _"Where...where's Toby, the engine I was on last night? Where is he? I-I can't see him anywhere...and I...I don't remember seeing you before...before we crashed. I thought Toby said that they didn't...have any other passengers!" _

"_Believe it or not,"_ the elderly man said_, "but I am, in fact, Toby! Something strange has happened to me and Henrietta. We...we've changed! We...we've become human!"_

Burnett slowly turned his head and saw the elderly man pointing to a woman standing just behind him and then at a number seven on the front pocket of his jacket. The woman he'd called Henrietta pointed to her necklace and smiled wanly.

Toby, thinking up a plan, tried to project his words into Burnett's mind just as he'd been doing last night before they crashed, and to his surprise, failed. Resorting back to using his mouth to speak, he said. _"Please, Burnett, allow me to introduce you to my dear friend, Henrietta." _

Burnett looked carefully at the man, then the woman, and then at their surroundings. There was no sign of the tramcar that he knew as Toby, nor the coach, but knowing the magic of the railways as he did, he could sense that what the elderly man was saying was indeed true.

"_Lady," _ Burnett suddenly moaned, feeling quite dizzy all of a sudden. _"She's really ill and there's black...black-" _

A bout of coughing halted Burnett's explanation and Toby quickly but carefully helped him to sit up.

"_Yes, you explained everything to me last night,"_ he said.

"_Tha...thank you, Toby," _ gasped Burnett. _"Somehow or other, we need to get to Knapford, but I think it's too late for that now, seeing what's happened to the both of you." _ He started to cough again and had to spit to one side to clear his aching throat.

"_Ooh, that didn't help my head at all," _ he groaned. _"I just don't understand it. I damped down her fire but...but the smoke kept coming and wouldn't stop, even when her fire was out. I just can't understand what's wrong with her. The...the smoke was filling her cave and...and as she was telling me what I had to do. She...she...told me to leave! I had to get out in the end as I couldn't breath any longer and...and there was this most horrid smell! It was like burnt flesh mixed with rubber and rotting wood. I ran outside and I...I had to leave Lady behind to suffer alone!" _

Burnett started to cry with grief at what he'd been forced to do. For many years he'd cut himself off from the rest of the world as he tried everything he could think of, and fail, to bring her back to life. It wasn't until his granddaughter, Lily, had suggested using Sodor coal to fire her up that he had any success, and then that frightening chase here on Sodor as she and Thomas fled from Diesel 10, not safe from him until a weak bridge collapsed under the heavy diesel's weight.

Between tearful sobs, Burnett spoke again. _"I couldn't s-s-stay with her. She...she sent me away. I ran to my pick-up and drove to Sh-sh-shining T-t-time Station. There was all this black s-s-smoke c-c-coming out of the entrance to the cave and it was getting thicker and thicker. It...it filled the sky. It was like d-d-day had turned into night, and then it started to rain. The raindrops were...they were black and too big. Everywhere they landed, there was slime, and...and the colour of the ground started to fade and turn grey like the mist that came. By the time I reached the station, it...it had become a downpour. All the people on the streets were gone. I went into the office and I s-s-saw Stacy and poor Mister C. She was unconscious and he...he was lying still on the ledge. H-h-his magic was all gone. Just like it's going to do to Lady. I've...I've failed her again!"_ Burnett moaned and his shoulders shook as he broke down in loud cries of grief.

Toby understood the man's despair for he'd been told by Thomas of the discovery of the magic buffers and the events at Shining Time and the engineer's long struggle to bring Lady back to life again. Indeed, he himself had played his part in helping to save the magical engine when Diesel 10 and his two cronies had planned to destroy the magic buffers linking the two railroads together. He'd managed to distract the big diesel, causing him to bring a shed roof down upon himself and his two cronies. Smiling at the memory, he put his arm around Burnett's shoulders and gently said to him, _"We'll find some way to get to Sir Topham. He'll know what to do." _

Just how exactly they were going to get to Knapford, that was the question, but the sound of traffic passing by now and again on the road the other side of the grass bank gave Toby an idea.

He waved Henrietta over to him and asked, _"Can you watch him for a few minutes, please, my dear? I'm going to get us a lift." _

He then carefully made his way up the grass bank until he was standing beside the road. Being rather early, he had to wait a while for another car or something to come by. He glanced back down a few times to where Henrietta and Burnett were to make sure that they were okay. Then, another car came along in the right direction, thankfully, and he stepped onto the road, waving his arms to attract the driver's attention. As the car pulled up to stop in front of him, Toby saw the driver was a young woman.

She wound down her window a couple of inches and waited for him to go to her side of the car. He went over, and said, _"Excuse me, Miss, but I need your help!" _

"_What's the matter?"_ the young woman asked, nervously looking up at the old man standing next to her car.

"_It's my friend," _ the old man replied, pointing back towards the grass bank. _"He's had a rather nasty accident and he's broken his arm. It's very important we get to Knapford Railway Station to see Sir Topham Hatt. Can you take us there, please, Miss?" _

Toby looked expectantly at the woman as she frowned slightly, contemplating what he'd just asked of her. She had long, dark-blonde hair that was tied back into a ponytail that only barely hid its curly nature, and blue eyes that looked back up at him as she twisted a few loose strands of hair with her left hand. She wasn't thin, per se, but she had a lean and lightly-freckled face and Toby found himself distracted by her quickly-moving fingers as they released and re-captured the long, loose strands.

"_Well,"_ she replied, tilting her head to one side as she came to a decision, believing the old man to be rather harmless. _"I'm going to Knapford as it happens, but it's a hospital your friend needs to go to if he's seriously hurt, and that's the other way!" _

The woman then looked to where the man was pointing, and said, _"I don't see your friend anywhere. Where is he?" _

"_He's down the bank, by the railway track," _ Toby replied. _"He's feeling rather weak at the moment." _

"_Oh! Um, do you need any help to get him up here?" _

"_Oh, yes, please, if you'd be so kind?" _

The woman switched off the car's engine, put her hazard lights on and opened her door to follow Toby, but not before pocketing her car keys. For all she knew, this might be some sort of scam to steal her car!

"_Be careful as you come down,"_ Toby called back to her, looking back over his shoulder. _"It's a bit steep. Here, take my arm!" _

The woman held onto Toby as they made their way over to Burnett, whose sobbing had muted into a quiet, occasional sniffle, and Toby could see that the engineer had been helped by Henrietta into a kneeling position. He was cradling his left arm close to his chest with his right and looking a bit dazed.

"_Is it safe to move him?" _ the young woman asked, looking down at the injured man kneeling on the ground and staring into space. If he felt as bad as he looked, she thought to herself, he must be in a very bad state.

She could see the sleeve of his brown overalls had been pulled back, revealing a broken bone sticking out of his lower arm, and looking at his bloody forehead, she thought that he might have concussion as well.

"_I think so," _replied Toby. _ "His legs seem to be okay." _

"_I really think he should go to the hospital. I can drive somewhere and phone for an ambulance for him, if you'd like?" _

"_Yes, he ought to go to the hospital,"_ agreed Toby, _"but it's really important that we see Sir Topham first. It's a matter of life or death!" _

"_Oh, well, if you insist," _the young woman said,_ "but please, once you've seen this Sir Topham fellow, please, call for an ambulance for your friend!" _

Toby smiled as the young woman then suggested they use Burnett's trousers belt to make a temporary sling for his injured arm, and with some assistance from Henrietta, he carefully helped Burnett to stand up before removing the belt from around the engineer's overalls. Looping it over Burnett's head, he carefully slipped the loose end between his broken arm and body before threading and securing it into the buckle, and then, with him standing on one side of the engineer and the two women on the other, they helped Burnett to walk slowly up the grass bank towards the car.

Getting him into the young woman's car was a bit awkward for them as Toby first had to get in the back to help Burnett sit down without jolting his arm too badly, and soon, with the young woman's assistance, they managed to get him seated comfortably and belted up, making sure that they didn't touch his injured arm.

"_Thank you, Miss," _ said Toby. _"I'll make sure he gets to the hospital as soon as we've seen Sir Topham." _

As they set off towards Knapford, Toby thought back to when he'd woken up that morning. He'd never imagined that he'd ever be in a situation like this. Also, his mind was thinking of so many new things that were strange and fascinating to him, he had a hard time concentrating on any one of them, but for all their novelty, there was something faintly familiar with them, and he frowned as he couldn't quite place what it was. He shook his head to dispel then all. Although he appeared to be a human, he was still a tram engine, but was he a human now forever, never to be a tram engine again? He didn't know, and he wished with all his might that Sir Topham would know what to do in order to solve this problem for him.

ooOOoo


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 

Diesel 10 looked about the marshalling yards and a smirk crept across his face. At first, the transformation into a human being had severely shaken him, but the richness of emotions and the increase in awareness he was experiencing, not to mention the depth of thought and ideas that flowed through his mind, staggering in their complexity, more than made up for the shock he'd had when he'd woken up that morning. The only things bothering him right now, though, were his reduced physical size and the sore throat he had after coughing all night, and that his eyes were streaming as though he had grit or coal dust in them, but they were feeling a better than they were. Nevertheless, he thought, this new situation that he'd found himself in had its advantages, particularly when it came to dealing with those pesky steam engines. He could use guile instead now that he'd lost his intimidating size. He looked down at his right hand which was now a three-pronged claw, and sniggered. _Yes,_ he thought, _those little smoke-spewing steamies had better watch out._ All he needed now was a plan, and minions, of course. Ignoring the gang of kids he could see throwing lumps of coal at the storage sheds, trying to break the windows, he made his way over to a grey building where he knew he could lay his hands, no, his claw, on two of those minions right away.

ooo

Inside one of the diesel sheds, two former Class 08 shunting diesels had woken up to find that their world had changed somewhat overnight, giving both of them something new to think about. One of them, Splatter, had one of his gloved fingers stuck in the buttonhole of his purple and grey pin-striped suit, whilst the other, Dodge, in his suit of olive and grey stripes, and with a hint of bemusement on his face, looked on amusedly. Both of them had their names embroidered in white on the front pockets of their jackets.

"_Hey, Dodge,"_ Splatter called out. _"Look what I can do!"_

"_You really are a idiot,"_ said Dodge to his friend and colleague. _"While you've been exploring something that, for some unknown reason, has not only managed to capture your imagination, but your finger as well, I've realised that we've both got a bit of a problem that's much, much worse that having your finger stuck in a hole."_

"_Ooh! What's that, then?"_

"_Well, do YOU feel like you could pull a dozen or more coal wagons this morning?"_

"_Um...er, oo-er! I hadn't thought of that,"_ replied Splatter, still struggling to free his finger. _"What are we going to do now?"_

"_I don't really know,"_ admitted Dodge. _"But what I do want to know is why are we like this, and is it only us that's changed. I don't think Sir Topham will be pleased when he sees us like this!"_

"_Oo-er! Maybe we can blame it on the steamies?"_ Splatter asked his friend. _"Oh, look over there! Someone's coming!"_

Dodge turned to look out of the shed and saw a rather tall, broad-shouldered man with a very stern expression on his face walking towards them. As he drew nearer, Dodge could see that he had grey, short-cropped hair, fierce, staring eyes in a grey, ashen-looking face and was dressed in an olive green suit with tan stripes running down the legs of his trousers, and unlike Splatter and himself, this man only had one hand, his left. His right hand was in the shape of a three-pronged, metal claw. As the green-dressed man came to a stop just in front of the two former diesels, Dodge found that both he and his friend had to look up to see the man's face.

"_SPLODGE!"_ the man bellowed down at them, and a feeling of intense dread ran up Dodge's back, and he gulped nervously, knowing now for a fact that whatever the frightening whirlwind and bright lights that had invaded his and his friend's sleep the previous night and left them both to wake up in their new human forms was, it wasn't just the two of them that had been affected by it.

"_GET YOUR LAZY SELVES OUTSIDE! WE'VE GOT THINGS TO DO AND PLANS TO MAKE!"_

"_Is...is that really you, Boss?"_ asked Splatter, nervously.

"_OF COURSE IT IS, YOU FOOL! WHO DID YOU THINK IT WAS?"_

"_You...you, er you look...um...very smart,"_ said Dodge, suddenly feeling rather insignificant. He'd always felt intimidated when he and his friend were referred to by that name. The large green diesel had told them in the past that he was so busy working out dastardly schemes and plans to get rid of the steamies that he just didn't have time to say two names when one name for them both was good enough.

The tall man raised his right arm into the air, opening and closing the prongs of his metal hand, and added, _"Yes, the new and improved 'Diesel Ten' is here to sort out our little 'Puffball' problem once and for all!" _

"_W-w-why are we like this, Boss?"_ asked Splatter. _"Is...is it just us?"_

"_DON'T JUST STAND THERE ASKING STUPID QUESTIONS, GO AND FIND OUT! GO AND LOOK FOR PEOPLE THAT USED TO BE DIESEL ENGINES WITH CONFUSED LOOKS ON THEIR FACES! TELL THEM TO GATHER AT THE FUEL PUMPS BECAUSE I'VE GOT A SPEECH TO MAKE, AND TELL THOSE KIDS OUTSIDE THAT IF THEY GET ANY OF THAT COAL DUST ON MY NEW...SUIT, I'LL INTRODUCE THEM TO THE NEW 'PINCHY'!"_ Diesel 10 opened and closed his metal claw several times, making a click-click sound that Dodge thought didn't have quite the same level of intimidation as his old bucket scoop did. Nevertheless, he and Splatter quickly made their way outside to go and look for those confused former diesels.

ooo

Emily was standing on the track just next to the water tower, pondering over the quite unnerving experience she'd just woken up from. She was watching a group of teenagers getting absolutely filthy as they played on top of the coalpile. _"Och, I gotta __sair heid this morn,"_ she muttered, rubbing her forehead, her gentle Scottish burr quite noticable should anyone have been nearby.

She looked down at her ankle-length, dark green, soft-leather coat with its gold edging and cuffs and grey, tightly-fitting gloves. Idly fingering her coat's gold buttons, she almost jumped out of her green leather boots when a woman's voice called out from somewhere to her left, startling her.

"_Um, excuse me, but I wonder, can you tell me what's going on? I can't find any of the other engines. They've all gone somewhere."_

Emily looked over her shoulder and saw a woman, a few years younger than herself, dressed in a black coat and long skirt, walking towards her. She had shoulder-length black hair that curled inwards at the bottom, almost forming a complete circle around her not-unattractive face. A pair of bright yellow earrings and matching yellow gloves on her hands, not to mention the equally bright yellow shoes she was wearing, would certainly make people aware of her arrival, Emily mused. As the woman got nearer, stopping only a couple of feet away, Emily noticed she was wearing a necklace that had a black metal plate attached to it, and on the plate in white script was etched 'The Ffarquhar Quarry Co. Ltd.', and above that was written her name, Mavis.

"_I dinna ken, ma wee lassie, an I can barely believe ma oon eyes,"_ she answered.

_Yes,_ Mavis thought. _That's Emily, all right!_ She was somewhat relieved to know that at least one of her colleagues was in a similar predicament to herself, though she had to really listen carefully to what Emily was saying, as her Scottish accent was now very strong indeed.

"_It seems tha we're nae longer in oor awn badies. I kin see tha yer be tha lassie, Mavis, buh whit yer doing here? Shouldna yer no be at tha Quarry?"_

"_Er...no! I had to come here yesterday for my monthly service. It made a pleasant change from having to look after those two little pests, Bill and Ben, all the time. I think I'm going to stay around here for a while. Would you mind if we hung out together?"_

"_Och, a dinna mind tha, lassie,"_ said Emily. _"I tell yer wit, let's gae and find tham fine laddies, Henry an Gordon. Mibbies thay kin tell us wit's gae on!"_

"_That's a good idea,"_ said Mavis. _"There's a rather horrid man back there by the diesel sheds. He's doing a lot of shouting at somebody and I don't really want to be anywhere near him. He gives me the creeps."_

With that, the two women started walking towards the sheds that housed the steam engines, both of them keeping wary eyes open for the man that had alarmed Mavis, and they hadn't gone more than thirty yards or so when another female voice called out to them, _"Yoo-hoo! Excuse me, please, ladies!"_

Both Emily and Mavis stopped and, turning to look who was calling them, they saw another woman, a few years younger than Mavis, stumbling over to where they had both stopped. The first thing that they noticed about her was that she was wearing a very, very short, thigh-length, green leather skirt with yellow trimming and soft-leather jacket to match. They also noticed that she had grey gloves, and, as well as that, her green, high-heeled shoes looked totally unsuitable for walking on the railway tracks. She had long, glossy black hair that curled halfway down her back and her face was made up with red lip-stick, blusher, and long, false eyelashes. As she got within three feet of Mavis and Emily, she tripped over a rail, and if wasn't for the two woman reaching out to catch her as she fell forward, she would have seriously hurt herself.

"_Ooh, thank you!"_ she said, straightening a non-existent crease in her skirt as she stood back up_. "Hi, I'm Daisy. By the look of you two, you have to be Emily and, yes, Mavis. How do you both do?"_

Daisy cast her eyes over the two women standing in front of her, but before they had a chance to reply, she said, _"Well, I'm not staying here, falling over these rails all the time. I'm highly sprung, you know, and I've got to take good care of my swerves,"_ and with a flick of her long, shiny head to straighten out any kinks or tangles, she carefully stepped onto the wooden sleepers and sauntered off towards Knapford Station.

"_There's a whole new world out there,"_ she called back to Mavis and Emily. _"Are you two coming with me to explore it, or not?"_

Emily looked to Mavis and said, _"Och, we canna alloo tha wee lassie to wander aboot on her own. Tha's na telling wha mess she'll get herself into. We'll hae to gae wi her an keep her oot o trouble. Are ye wi me, Mavis?"_

"_Ought we not to go and see Sir Topham first?" a_sked Mavis, apprehensively._ "I mean, supposing he needs us for something, how will he find us?"_

"_Well,"_ said Emily, _"I suppose we could always tell him whaur we be gae, just so tha he ken, tho I dinna believe wer be able to pull any more coaches now. Come on, tha, Mavis! I wonder if ma own twae wee lassies wanna come wi us as well? Tha more tha merrier, me ma always say to me!"_

The two women hurried to catch up with Daisy and took hold of an arm each to help her avoid any more stumbles.

ooo

"_Sir Topham,"_ said the woman that had called herself Annie, _"If you just go and fetch Thomas, he'll tell you who we are!"_

They'd been in the station café now for twenty minutes and Sir Topham was getting nowhere with them.

"_I'm afraid I can't do that,"_ replied Sir Topham, with only a smidgen of impatience in his voice. _"By the look of it, I rather believe he's already gone with his coaches, your namesakes Annie and Clarabel, and he won't be back until just before dinnertime." _

Under normal circumstances, Sir Topham would usually have a lot of time for trainspotters, occasionally giving a talk at their meetings about general railway matters for them to gain a better understanding of the factors that influenced stock movement such as weight limits and the various engines' different pulling strengths, etc, but the two women he'd found on the tracks that morning were beginning to really unsettle him. They'd already told him quite a few things that no ordinary trainspotter would know, as they'd been quite personal things that only he, Thomas and the actual coaches would know. He just didn't know what to think of it all.

"_Look, ladies, if y-"_ he started, but the café's entrance door opening and five rather strangely attired men entering stopped him short and, then, as he saw their clothing and three rather familiar colours, he groaned, _"Oh, no! Not more of you!"_

All five men were dressed in long leather coats that reached down to their knees. The coats of the two tallest men, both slightly over six feet in height, were blue and green, both with red edging, cuffs and buttons. The man wearing a red coat and matching buttons had gold edging and cuffs, and the two shortest men had blue and green coats just like the two tallest, their buttons matching their cuffs and edging as well. All had black hair, large expressive eyes, slightly podgy faces that, he noticed, all had a rather greyish tint that made them look rather ashen. He could see, albeit slightly blurry thanks to forgetting his reading-glasses, that each man had something embroidered on the front pocket of their coats. As he reached inside his coat for his diary to check whether or not he'd forgotten an outing that the trainspotters' club had arranged for that day, the tall, blue-coated man spoke to him.

"_Ahem! Good morning, Sir Topham. I...um, we've got something rather stra-"_ but the ringing of the phone bell on the platform wall outside the traffic office cut him off, and Sir Topham took the opportunity to escape this new crazy turn that the morning had taken.

"_Um, excuse me for a few moments would you, please?"_ he told them as he stood up, making sure that he didn't leave his cup of black coffee behind. He figured he'd need as straight a head as he could get this particular morning, and made his way to the traffic office to answer the phone, silently cursing Debra's lateness and hoping that whoever was phoning didn't hang up before he had a chance to unlock the door first.

"_Good morning, Knapford Station..._

_Oh, hello, Peregrine..._

_What? What do you mean, 'strange'?..._

It was Mr. Percival, the quarry manager, on the other end. A problem there would disrupt some of his services, and he couldn't spend all morning talking to some rather fanatical trainspotters, not with some sort of crisis developing, he thought, but then, as he was listening to Peregrine start to explain his problem, the door to the traffic office opened and the two blue-coated men that had accosted him entered.

Sir Topham, putting his hand over the mouthpiece, said, _"Gentlemen, whatever it is you want, you'll have to excu-"_

"_Sir Topham, Sir,"_ said the shorter of the two men, rudely interrupting the railway owner. _"You really have to listen to us. It's very imp-"_ but the ringing of the outside bell announcing that, and Sir Topham interrupted _him_.

"_Hold on a minute would you, please, Peregrine, I've got another call coming through,"_ Sir Topham said into the mouthpiece, seeing the flashing light on his phone. Then, pressing the 'Hold' button to connect to the second call, Sir Topham announced, _"Good morning, Knapford Station. Can I help you?"_

Gordon tilted his head sideways and studied Sir Topham. He knew of phones, having seen his driver use the emergency rail-side phones in the past, and he'd always wondered what it would be like to use one, but then, he saw Sir Topham frown. _He must have had some bad news,_ Gordon thought.

"_Burnett Stone? Yes, I'll accept it..._

_Burnett? This is Topham speaking. All's well at Sunshine Station, I trust? What can I do for you this morning?..._

_WHAT?..._

_When did this happen?..._

_How did it happen?..._

_I see. Is she still ill?..._

_WHAT? Oh, Good Lord! I'm so sorry to hear that, Burnett. My condolences to you. Where are you right now? Are you still in Sunshine?..._

_WHAT? Are you alright? How's Toby?..._

_No, I haven't..._

_THEY'VE WHAT?..._

_Well, that explains what I've been seeing this morning, then..._

_I see, yes, I know it..._

_She actually said that? What did she mean by that?..._

_I see. Well, I'll make sure that that doesn't happen..._

_Burnett, try not to worry about this. I'll be over to see you as soon as I can, and tell Toby and Henrietta to stay with you. I'll collect them when I come over later..._

_And me you. Get well soon, Burnett, and thank you for telling me this. We'll do whatever it takes. Goodbye."_

Sir Topham looked up at the two men standing in front of him, and said_, "My apologies to you both, Gentlemen."_ Offering his hand to the taller of the two men, he added, _"It's a pleasure and an honour to meet you again, Gordon."_

Taking his hand, the tall eng-, man said, _"And you, too, Sir Topham."_

Sir Topham then turned and offered his hand to the shorter man beside him. _"And to you, too, Thomas. This is a great pleasure for me indeed!"_

As the two former engines looked at Sir Topham, they could sense his authority when he spoke to them as though it were a tangible force, though not in "punitive" or master/slave sense, rather, it was more of a desire to carry out his instructions without fuss and a willingness to get the job done, and they begun to believe that their problems would soon be resolved.

Sir Topham looked back and forth between the two eng-, men, and asked_, "How...how are you both finding your new...situation? _

Then he remembered he still had a call on hold, and said to the men, apologetically,_ "Excuse me a moment, please."_

"_Peregrine, you were saying?..._

_How soon can you get to the Hall?..._

_Yes, Hatt Hall..._

_Meet me there at one o'clock this afternoon. It's very important. Can you do that?... _

_Good. Oh, and whatever you do, it's most vital that you don't call the police or anyone else right now. Goodbye, Peregrine."_

Sir Topham put the phone down and gestured to the door behind the two eng-, men. _"Gentlemen,"_ he said_, "Would you be so kind as to come back with me to the café? It seems I not only have to apologise to two dear old women, but to try and explain what's happened to all of you."_

With that, the three men made their way back to the café and, for Sir Topham Hatt, more black coffee.

ooo

"_Hello, Sir Topham. It's Mr. Percival here. There's something rather strange going on up here at the quarry and I don't know how to explain it..._

_._

_._

_._

_Sir Topham, all my engines have vanished and there's a gang of men outside standing on the tracks where the engines are supposed to be, scratching their heads and waving their arms about. I think I need to call the police..._

_Your Hall?..._

_Yes, Sir Topham, I can be there by then..._

_Oh, really? I won't if you say so, Sir. Goodbye Sir."_

Peregrine Percival, known to some people as "The Thin Controller", looked out of his office window and sighed. He hadn't been given an explanation by Sir Topham and now, he just didn't know what to do. All his engines had disappeared, and with that gang of unruly-looking men out there, well, despite being the manager of Skarloey Railway, he didn't want to allow himself to be outnumbered if any trouble was started. The fact that Sir Topham didn't want the police involved was strange, after all, if the engines had been stolen, couldn't they investigate and maybe find some clues as to who'd taken them? And why had he been requested to be to Hatt Hall at one o'clock?

Suddenly, Peregrine Percival believed he had the answer. Those men outside were part of a notorious gang of kidnappers, and they'd taken the engines as ransom. Indeed, Sir Topham himself must have been watched by some other members of the gang when he'd just been talking on the phone, and the so-called 'other call' had been when they were telling him what to say, or even worse, actually threatening him against alerting anyone. Thinking of the danger to the man that had appointed him as the new manager of the narrow-gauge railway, Peregrine thought, _Oh dear, What can I do to save him!_

Forcing himself to ignore his nervousness and trembling hands, Peregrine decided that he should at least try and find out what the kidnappers outside wanted, and so, with a shrug of his shoulders and a metaphorical 'girding of his loins', he left the quarry manager's office for what may be the physical confrontation he was dreading. What happened next, though, as he neared the arguing men, and women, he noticed, was something he'd never, ever, imagined as being possible!

"_Mr Percival, Sir!"_

"_You've got to help us!" _

"_Sir! What's happened to us?"_

"_We're... people!"_

"_Why...?"_

"_How...?"_

"_What...?"_

"_When...?"_

"_Who...?"_

Peregrine reared back in alarm as the gang of leather-coated men suddenly surrounded him en masse. His mind took in such an amount of information in that brief moment it would take him ages if he sat down and tried to recollect it to someone. All the gang members were wearing long, knee-length leather coats of red, blue, green, orange, and even bright yellow and vermilion. Most, though not all, had blue trimming on the coats' edges, cuffs and buttons. All the man had black hair despite looking rather old and rugged, though their grey tinted skin made them all look rather ill, he thought. Thankfully, they were all shorter than he was, coming up only to his shoulders. He saw that they each had an embroidered name on the front pocket of their coats, though he was too distracted to read any of them. Amidst all the noise and confusion, he noted that he could also hear one or two of the women starting to question him as well. He raised his arms up in a placating manner and shouted, _"Please, please! Do you all have to speak at the same time? Look, who are you all?"_

After a second of silence, the gaggle of voices started up again, creating an almost incomprehensible crescendo of noise for his confused ears, but out of the multitude of questions, one he clearly heard and really surprised him was, _"Mr. Percival, Sir! Why have we all become people?"_

Peregrine looked at the gang members again, this time, though, with a more discerning eye. This time, he actually looked at the embroidered writing on the men's, and women's, coats. Seeing familiar names such as Skarloey, Rheneas, Sir Handel, Peter Sam, Rusty, Duncan, Duke, Agnes, Ruth, Lucy and Jemima, Peregrine Percival tried to work out what it all meant, but failed.

"_I-I-I just d-d-don't understand. Why are you all dressed up in the engines' colours? Are you some sort of fan club? Why are my engines missing? Why have you taken them away? What have you done with them? Why are you threatening Sir Topham Hatt?"_

"_What?"_ asked the man with Rheneas embroidered on his coat in surprise. _"EVERYONE! SHUT UP!"_ 'Rheneas' yelled out. Then, in a quieter voice, he said, _"Mr. Percival, Sir! You don't understand. Look, I'll explain. Last night, we all started coughing in our sleep, which woke us all up. We couldn't see anything because it had gone completely dark as though all the lights had gone out, and our eyes were stinging. Eventually, we all managed to get back to sleep and when we woke up this morning, everyone was talking about weird dreams and strange flashing lights. The only thing, though, instead of engines talking to each other, it was us, people. We were all laying on the tracks where we'd parked up for the night. It was quite weird, really. Can you speak to Sir Topham Hatt, Sir, and ask him if he knows what's happened to us? Please, Sir?"_

This was quite an un-nerving and fantastic tale he'd just been told, and as he stared at 'Rheneas', something nagging at him in his mind told him to go with that story that the strange-looking man had just said to him.

"_I've already spoken to Sir Topham." _Peregrine said to him,_ "and I'm meeting him at one o'clock." "Until then, I don't know what to say. I can hardly believe this is happening to me!"_

"_Mr. Percival, Sir,"_ the man dressed in Peter Sam's colours said. _"It's just as confusing for us. There are things in our minds that weren't there before."_

Peregrine looked at the man, no, engine, no, man, definitely man, that had just spoken, and asked, _"What kind of things?"_

The man dressed up as Rheneas spoke again. _"Ideas, Sir. Thoughts and ideas that are more...more than we're used to. Things like...like, when I think of myself I think of being more than just an engine. There are so many things that I want to do that are not just pulling wagons full of slate or stone."_

"_Yeah, me too!"_ another voice called out.

"_And me!"_

"_And me!"_

"_And I do!"_

The volume of noise increased again as more and more voices contributed their own thoughts and ideas on these new ideas and thoughts until Peregrine had had enough.

"_ARIGHT, ALRIGHT!"_ he shouted. _"Look, let's all go into the canteen and try and make some sense out of all this. After that, I'll take two of you with me when I go and see Sir Topham Hatt. We'll see what he has to say about it."_

Percival, as he led the crowd of men and women to the canteen, decided that he would rather have had them demanding money or something. At least then, he mused, he could have dealt with it in some way that he knew, but this now, well, it was just something completely different.

ooo

"_In all the excitement,"_ the young woman driver said, moments after getting the car going, _"I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Jeanie, Jeanie Watkins."_

"_Hello Jeanie. How do you do? I'm Henrietta. My...my gentleman friend here is called Toby, and this poor gentleman is called Burnett Stone."_

"_I must say, Henrietta,"_ said Jeanie, _"I've been looking at Mr. Stone in the mirror and he looks quite pale. I really insist that he goes to the hospital before he gets any worse."_

"_I-I really must speak to Sir Topham Hatt,"_ Burnett groaned. _"It-it's a matter of life or death."_

"_Your friend already told me that. Can't you phone him from the hospital?"_ asked Jeanie. _"You say it's life or death, but I'm more concerned about your life, Mr. Stone."_

"_My life's not...it's not as important as Lady's,"_ murmured Burnett_. "There are so many...many others that...that need to survive. I have to speak to him as soo-"_ but Burnett's distress set off a coughing fit so severe that he coughed up a few specks of blood onto the back of his sleeve.

"_Burnett,"_ said Toby, alarmed. _"Jeanie's correct. You need to go to hospital. Even I know that coughing up blood means you're seriously ill." _

"_C-can we stop at a phone booth somewhere?"_ Burnett asked. His chest had started to ache and he was beginning to feel rather nauseous as well. This was making him start to panic. If he passed out now before speaking to Sir Topham then it would be too late for Lady, too late for, well, all the engines. _"If you can stop at a phone booth, I'll phone Sir Topham and then...then I'll go to the hospital. Will you let me do that?"_

"_I'd rather that than have you die in my car,"_ said Jeanie. _"There's a petrol station coming up soon. Maybe you can phone from there, and then it's St. Tibba's for you, Mr Stone!"_

Indeed, a few minutes later, the petrol station came into view and Jeanie drove onto the forecourt, stopping as near as she could to a pair of red telephone kiosks.

"_Toby,"_ Burnett called out weakly. _"C-c-can you help me out of the c-car, please. I c-can manage the rest myself."_

"_Yes,"_ said Toby. _"I'll help you out, but are you sure you can manage? What if you collapse?"_

"_Once I've made this phone call, I don't care if I collapse. It's much too important."_

Knowing that Burnett was right, Toby couldn't deny him, and once he'd helped Burnett pull open the heavy door and get him inside the kiosk, he paced back and forth outside, waiting for the weak engineer to complete his call.

Burnett groaned, realising that he didn't know the railway station's phone number, nor did he have any of the right coins for the phone, and Toby wouldn't have any money on him, either. Squinting his watery eyes, he studied the phone in front of him and found the dialling instructions. _Yes,_ he mentally cheered, and pressed some of the keys on the dialling pad.

"_Hello, Operator? I-I need to make a, what do you call it over here, a collect-call to Knapford Railway Station..._

_Yes, that's right. My...my name is Burnett Stone. Yes, I'll wait..._

_._

_._

_._

_Hello? It's B-B-Burnett Stone here. I n-n-need to speak with Sir...Sir Topham Hatt. It's vitally important..._

_Oh, hello, Sir Topham. No, it's not alright. Lady's magic is failing..._

_I said, Lady's magic is failing..._

_Yesterday evening. She started to f-f-feel weak and then she started to lose all power..._

_I don't know. I gave her more coal but it only s-s-seemed to m-m-make her worse, then this foul black smoke started coming out of her stack. I...I think it may be the coal itself that's aff-affecting her..._

_I don't know. I had to leave her. I went to Sunshine Station but everyone I saw there had fallen unconscious. Mr. Conductor, he-he's no longer alive, Sir Topham..._

_No. I'm on Sodor right now. I'm at the, er, the Unexo Service Station on the road to Crosby, I think it is, judging by the road signs. I was on my way to see you last night on...on Toby, but we crashed..._

_He-he appears to be okay. A few aches and bruises, that sort of thing. Henrietta's just fine. Ha-have you spoken to any of the engines this morning?..._

_Sir Topham, Toby and Henrietta...some time last night after we crashed and were unconscious, they...they changed into people..._

_They've changed into people, Sir Topham. I think that the black smoke must have followed me to Sodor through the buffers and aff-affected them both. It may have affected some of the other engines on Sodor as well..._

_Toby hailed a passing car and we were on our way to you but I started to feel faint and the young woman who picked us up is insisting that I go to the hospital. You know St Tibbs...Tibba's?..._

_Sir Topham, Lady gave me a message to give you. She said it's really important. It-it's the only way to save her. She said...she said that you have to open the box and go back to the beginning. I don't know what she means by that but that's what she said..._

_Yes. She also said that it's really, really important that the engines don't find out what's inside the box..._

_Thank you, Sir Topham. Look, I've got to go. I broke my arm when we derailed last night and...and it really hurts right now and I feel quite weak. Sir Topham, please, do what you can to save Lady, I beg you! She's really bad and I think...I think if we lose her, all the magic here will go as well. It'll all be over, Sir Topham. No more magic and no more sen-sentient engines..._

_I-I look forward to seeing you, Sir Topham..._

_Goodbye."_

Burnett placed the receiver back in its cradle and turned to push open the kiosk's door. Unfortunately, he'd forgotten that the phone kiosk he was in right then was quite different to the ones he was used to back in Shining Time, the ones with easy to use sliding doors. The phone kiosks on Sodor were like those that used to be found all over Britain, with really heavy doors that needed great effort to open them, and he hadn't realised that it was Toby that had opened it for him to enter the kiosk. The effort that Burnett put into trying to push open the heavy door was too much for him, and he fainted inside the kiosk.

"_OH MY GOD!"_ shrieked Jeanie, seeing him collapse. She quickly got out of her car and ran the few yards to the kiosk. Reaching it just as Toby pulled open the door, she said, _"Quickly, phone an ambulance!"_

"_Um-er,"_ murmured Toby, apologetically, _"but I've never used a phone before. I don't know how!"_

Jeanie looked at Toby as though he had just grown a second head. _"What? Oh, never mind, I'll do it! You, see to your friend!"_

Stretching over the downed Burnett, Jeanie dialled the emergency services and asked for an ambulance. As she waited to be put through, she puzzled over what Toby had just said to her. As far as she knew, everybody over the age of five should have known how to use a phone. Where had this guy been living all his life? On a desert island? Up a mountain? Her thoughts were interrupted by a voice in her ear asking her what was nature of the problem and she explained about Burnett and his injuries and where they were. Once she'd finished, she hung up and stepped away from the kiosk, looking down at the unconscious Burnett Stone with some concern.

"_You mean to tell me you've never used a phone before?"_ she asked, looking back to Toby as he gently held Burnett's uninjured arm.

"_It's... it's, um, er, rather complicated,"_ he replied. _"I've been...I've never had to use one before now."_

"_Where are you from?"_ asked Jeanie, frowning.

"_Er, East Anglia, originally. I'm, we're rather...new around here, Henrietta and I, and I'm, er, finding it a bit hard to get used to the ways things are done here. I've had a rather, um, simple life. I've been travelling around a lot, you see."_

"_Aah, now I understand!"_ said Jeanie._ "You're one of THOSE people, aren't you? Yes, I can see that, now. With all the travelling you've been doing I guess you'd have no need for a phone."_

Toby was rather surprised to hear the young woman say that. _"Well, I'm pleased that you've heard of us. Not a lot of people are that special,"_ he said, smiling up at Jeanie. _"You see, Henrietta and I are in a bit of trouble. This is how we ended up after we crashed last night. That's how Burnett got injured."_

"_WHAT?"_ shrieked Jeanie. _"You mean to say that you crashed and were left to wander about beside the railway track all night? With an injured man? Where was your car? I didn't see any wreckage back there!"_

"_Yes, that's right,"_ answered Toby, though he wasn't quite sure what Jeanie was implying. _"We woke up this morning where we crashed, and thankfully, you stopped to help us when I waved at you. I'm really grateful to you for that, I must say."_

"_It-it's no problem,"_ said Jeanie. _"I'm glad I did, what with Mr. Stone being so ill. I-I just hope that the ambulance gets here soon."_

"_Yes, so do I"_ agreed Toby. _"I wonder if they'll let Henrietta and I go with him to the hospital."_

"_Look, I'll take you there myself if they won't,"_ Jeanie said, somewhat forcibly. _"It's the least I could do after what's happened to you all."_

"_Oh, thank you,"_ said Henrietta, coming to stand next to where Toby was crouching over Burnett and resting her hands on the former tramcar's shoulders.

"_So, you're connected with Sodor Railway?"_ Toby asked Jeanie.

"_Oh, no! I've not long left university. I'm an artist. I paint things,"_ she replied. _"I was on my way to visit my sister in Knapford to go shopping with her when you flagged me down."_

"_Oh,"_ said Toby, slightly puzzled. _"How did you get to know about us, then, if I may ask?"_

"_Well,"_ said Jeanie, _"Your sort of people are rather well-known, you know. After all, you've been in the papers and on the news with your exploits and all the troubles you've had when going from one place to another."_

"_Oh, yes, you're certainly right about that! There's always something happening to one of us sometime time or other, wherever we are. Travelling from town to town all the time, never a week goes by when something goes wrong. It's quite stressful at times."_

"_Exactly how many of you are there?"_ asked Jeanie.

"_Oh, quite a lot of us. We're all over the island quite regularly. Some of us even go to the mainland on the odd occasion, though I haven't been back there since Sir Topham invited Henrietta and I to come to Sodor and work on his railway several years ago."_

"_I see,"_ said Jeanie. _"But where was all the wreckage from your crash. I didn't see anything on the tracks when I was there."_

"_Oh, it was only a derailment. It does happen sometimes, particularly if we're going too fast round a bend, as I did last night."_

"_As YOU did? You mean, you were the driver?"_

"_No, don't be silly,"_ said Toby, slightly confused by the way the conversation was going. _"I was the engine, and Henrietta was my coach. Burnett was inside my cab and he fell out when I crashed. I thought you said you knew all about us?"_

Suddenly regretting she'd stopped when the strange man in front of her had flagged her down earlier that morning, and even more so considering that she'd just offered to take the man and his friend for another ride in her car with her, the only thing she could think to say was, _"I-I-I hope there's room in the ambulance for you both."_

ooo

Sir Topham stood near the coffee dispenser in the station café, savouring the feel and taste of the hot drink as it stung the back of his throat. Never since he had taken over the running of the Sodor Railway had he ever had to put so much thought into a series of tasks. He had to ensure that what he did this morning was right the first time. It had to be. Lady's magic failing and the effect it was having on the trains was a disaster of unmitigated proportion. Finally deciding that the scenario he'd just run through his mind was reasonably correct and accurate, he placed his now empty cup on the counter and turned to face his audience, seated as they were at two of the small, round tables, and waiting patiently for him to speak.

Casting his eyes over the two groups, he saw Annie, Clarabel and Thomas sitting together at one of the tables. Unlike the normal set-up he was so used to seeing whereby the two old ladies would either be pulled or pushed along by Thomas when he'd been in his normal engine form, here, in his new human 'form', he was sitting between the two ladies with his arms reaching protectively around their shoulders, clutching the two dears close to his chest as they quietly sobbed and wiped at their tearful eyes with paper napkins. Then Thomas did something so human-like that it was very hard for Sir Topham to imagine the short, blue-coated man as being anything other than a regular person, and he suddenly felt a swelling inside his chest as Thomas kissed the back of one of the women's head and whispered something into her ear that made her smile and chuckle long enough to help her stem her tears. Then he turned to the other woman and kissed her too, and she, in turn, whispered something back to Thomas that made him laugh out loud.

"_AHEM!"_ said Gordon, loudly. _"I'm glad somebody thinks what's happened to us is funny! You little...ones are so used to acting the fool that I'm not surprised you're not taking this as seriously as you should."_

"_J-j-just like you to say that, Gordon!"_ exclaimed Percy, nervously, sitting at the second table. James was sitting to his left, Henry to his right, with Gordon on the other side of Henry. _"You're always going on about how big and strong you are, I'll bet you're just as anxious as us 'little ones'!"_

"_Settle down, er...gentlemen,"_ said Sir Topham. _"I can imagine how unsettled you all are right now, but we've all got to work together to get through this and find some way to help Lady. Now, as to what we're going to do, I've got to go back home to get something that, according to what Burnett has told me, will help us save Lady. Before I go, though, I'll prepare some lists of all the other, er, engines, and where they were parked up last night. James, I'd like you to work between here and Cronk, checking to see if any more of the rolling stock or engines have been affected. Gordon, I'd like you to check between Kirk Ronan and Vicarstown. There shouldn't be anything between Cronk and Crovan's Gate, though, but I'll be phoning them to explain what's happened as soon as I can, what little I know right now, that is. I'll also be phoning the clay works to check on Bill and Ben. If any-"_

"_Excuse me, Sir Topham,"_ interrupted Gordon, _"but how can we do that? We can't go along the tracks like we used to, we're not engines any more!"_

"_I'll arrange with some of the local taxi firms to take you. I'll want you to call in at the various stations and depots along the way and...Gordon, excuse me for asking, but, can you write?"_

"_Um, I don't know, Sir Topham. I haven't tried that yet." _He rather sheepishly replied.

"_Er, I'll tell you what,"_ said Sir Topham, _"I'll put two words next to the list of engines, 'Train' and 'Human', then you can just make a mark under the appropriate heading when you see them. Is that okay with you?"_

"_Um, yes, Sir Topham, Sir,"_ replied Gordon, feeling slightly embarrassed that he'd just doubted his own ability in front of the smaller engines.

Sir Topham continued with his instructions.

"_As I was saying, if anyone asks you what you're doing, tell them that...tell them that all the signals have failed and that I apologise for letting everyone down. I'll be instructing Debra, if and when she comes in, to say the same thing. The less people that know what's happened, the better, or the place will be full of reporters, TV people and, no doubt, swarms of trainspotters. Henry, I'd like you to check over the marshalling yards. Check all the sheds, both steam and diesel, and the wagon stock. Thomas, I'd like you to check between here and Arlesdale, not forgetting Arlesburgh and Ffarquhar, of course. Annie and Clarabel, if you two would be so kind as to accompany Henry. It'll be most helpful if you can assist any of the other coaches that may have been affected. Oh, that reminds me, I must check on the buses and on Harold. I'll be back once I've made those calls. If any of you are feeling a bit, er, hungry or thirsty, help yourselves to some biscuits and cake from the display case over there,"_ Sir Topham pointed over to the other end of the counter, "or get a drink from the machine over by there," and pointed to a tall vending-machine beside the door. "To get a drink, you need to insert one of these coins into that slot by there, and press one of these buttons by here." Sir Topham placed a money bag containing several 50-pence pieces on top of the counter and then left to make his phone calls.

"_This is going to be fun,"_ said James, smiling. _"I never thought I'd ever ride in a taxi, let alone fit into one!"_

"_Another one who finds it funny,"_ snorted Gordon. _"This is a serious matter, and the tasks that Sir Topham has given us are very important. I know I'll be able to do it, and if anyone's going to let us down, I'm pretty sure it'll be one of you small, sorry, short ones! And what's wrong with you, Henry? You look as though you've got wood in your firebox instead of coal!"_

"_I'm finding all this to be rather trying, actually,"_ moaned Henry. _"I'd much prefer to be pulling coaches with my ten wheels turning fast than walking slowly on only two legs!"_

"_Look at it as though it's another adventure,"_ said James. _"That's what I'm going to do. Even if I can't show off my shiny red paint, at least I'm the only one here with a shiny red coat!"_

"_Yeah,"_ said Thomas, struggling with the front of his blue coat. _"But what's odd about them is that I can't undo these buttons. Can any of you undo yours?"_

They all tried to unbutton their coats, or in the case of the two women, their cardigans, and found that none of them could succeed.

"_That's very strange,"_ said Gordon. _"I tried to take my gloves off this morning, but they were stuck. They must be like our more usual bodies, all welded or riveted together."_

James started laughing again. _"Think of the mess we'd be in if we all took our coats off and then changed back into engines!"_

"_We'd all be in bits on the floor,"_ chuckled Percy, feeling much better now that Sir Topham had taken charge of the problem.

"_Oo-er!"_ moaned Henry again. _"That doesn't make me feel any better! I just want to lie down and go to sleep."_

"_You can't do that, Henry!"_ said a shocked Gordon. _"You have to set an example of how us big...engines do things! Damn it! I don't know what to call myself anymore! What are you all staring at me like that for?_

"_You...you cursed!"_ exclaimed Thomas, a look of shock on his face. _"You've never done that before!"_

"_You're right,"_ grumbled a slightly abashed Gordon. _"It must be this 'being human' thing!"_

"_Yes,"_ agreed James. _"Since waking up this morning, I can see so many more ways to have fun. I say we should enjoy it, no matter how long we stay like this."_

Gordon looked at his smaller friend in shock. _"But what about our work?"_ he asked. _"What about pulling the coaches and trucks? Well, coaches in my case. What about getting the people and all the goods to their destinations? If they all decide to go by bus or by car, even after all this is over, what about us then? What if all the goods end up being taken on the roads by the lorries? Who's going to want to run a railway that nobody uses? Who's going to want to keep engines that have no work to do?"_

"_I agree,"_ said Thomas. _"Without anything for us to do, we won't be useful engines any more, and we'll be sent to the scrapworks. I can just imagine that greasy Diesel 10's sniggers as he drops us, bit by bit, into the crusher or the smelting pot. He'll be really happy doing that. He'll be the only really useful engine on Sodor. He'll have the place all to himself."_

"_And Sir Topham will keep the other diesels to shunt the wagons that are filled with broken up steam engines,"_ chipped in Percy, then he added, tearfully, _"I-I don't want that to happen."_

The other former engines look glum after hearing what Thomas and Percy had just said. Annie and Clarabel burst into tears and wailed together, _"We d-d-don't want to be like this any more! C-c-can't you engines do anything to stop this? We're af-f-f-fraid!" _

Thomas quickly embraced his two close friends again to comfort them.

"_There, there,"_ he murmured. _"We'll all work together to get the job done. Don't worry, my dears_!" He again kissed the tops of their heads and, looking back up to his friends and colleagues, said, _"We've got to do this, for all our sakes!"_

ooOOoo


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 

Diesel 10 walked slowly towards the small group of former engines and wagons that were standing on the track in front of the fuel pumps, after all, it wouldn't do for the one whom would lead them all to a better future to look as though he was in a rush, no, it was the silly little steamies that did all the rushing about. _Make them wait,_ he thought. _Let them know how important I am. _He, the biggest diesel on Sodor, most certainly didn't want to give anyone the wrong idea. Of the people waiting for him, apart from his two minions, the others may have looked unfamiliar but, knowing that his transformation that morning had left enough hints as to his identity, he could certainly hazard a guess as to whom the others were. The black-suited man with matching black hair and a greasy complexion to his rather sour-looking, grey face could only be the shunter, Diesel. Similarly, the green-suited man with white hair had to be BoCo. _TWO! THAT'S ALL THAT PAIR OF IDIOTS COULD FIND?_ he angrily thought. _And where's that lazy Daisy and that Goody-Goody-six-wheels Mavis that was here last night? I need more than this for my plans to work! _Looking around the marshalling yards for sign of any former engines that his two bungling minions may have overlooked, he saw that the gang of youngsters were still playing about on the coal heaps.

"_SPLODGE!" _he called out. _"Go and get those... kids over here, NOW!"_

"_Right away, Boss!" _they said together, and quickly scampered away to carry out their order.

"_What do you want us here for?"_ BoCo asked him. _"Do you know what's happened to us?"_

Diesel kept silent, merely watching his taller colleague climb the step ladder next to the fuel tank.

"_Once that lot are over here then I'll tell you what's happening,"_ replied Diesel 10.

They waited two minutes until Splatter and Dodge and the gang of youngsters had joined them and formed a semi-circle around where Diesel 10 was looking down to them from the steps.

"_I have thought long and hard about this, and we are here... to protect ourselves,"_ he announced. _"It's pretty obvious that what's happened to all of you, er, all of us, may well have happened all over the island, and has happened to those stinky steamies as well. Now, we've all had trouble from those little pests in the past, and I want to make sure that they're not going to trouble us again in the future, especially now that, er, now that things have changed. This new, er, situation we are in means that everyone connected with Sodor Railway is going to be looking for a way to turn things back to how they were. It's pretty clear that something has happened to the magic of the railway, and the only one that has anything to do with all of that is that smug little stinker, Lady. She's obv-"_

"_I don't know why you call her names like that,"_ interrupted BoCo. _"I've met her once and she seemed to be quite nice and charming!"_

"_NICE AND CHARMING!"_ roared Diesel 10. _"It's the stinky steamies being 'nice and charming' that stops them getting told off by Sir Topham whenever they've played a trick on one of us or done something sneaky that gets one of us into trouble!"_

Diesel 10 glared down at BoCo. _"Don't you remember when you first came to the island and you quite accidentally took the china clay trucks that those trickster twins, Bill and Ben, were supposed to take. It was them playing that horrible trick on you that made you think you were hallucinating and seeing things, and then they laughed at you. And then there's that green monster, Duck. He distracted you with his nattering long enough for that red blister, James, to insult you. What did he call you, now? Ah, yes, he called you a "buzzbox" if I'm not mistaken! Don't you see that they plan all these things together? We don't have time for petty little things such as scheming to play tricks on the other engines, do we? No, and I'll tell you why. It's because we want to get on with our work and please Sir Topham Hatt by showing him how useful we are."_

Boco's face reddened as he recalled the occasions that Diesel 10 had mentioned. He'd seriously thought at the time when Bill and Ben were tricking him that he was going mad, and he started feeling a rage forming inside him, only this time, it was a rage unlike anything he'd felt before as its intensity was astounding. When he'd been an engine and things had gone wrong for him, the only emotions he'd felt were a basic form of satisfaction and frustration compared to what he was feeling right now, and the strength of his feelings when he was an engine only changed when his appointed tasks either succeeded or failed. His prime objective was to work, work until he fulfilled his role, the role of an engine that was supposed to pull coaches and wagons to their destinations, just like all the other engines on the island. The fact that the two small yellow pests had made him feel so confused really embarrassed him and, right now, he wanted nothing more than to make them suffer in some way.

"_You're right,"_ snarled Diesel. _"They're nothing but trouble-makers!"_

_This is going to be easy,_ thought Diesel 10. _Now, let's stir things up a bit more!_

"_Diesel, my trusty friend,"_ he said. _"Think back to when you came here. Do you remember that yet again it was that green monstrosity that caused trouble for a diesel by disobeying his order and ignoring you, thus ensuring that you didn't know what you had to do? That's how pompous they are, thinking that they have the freedom to do such things. They think they own the place!"_

Diesel's mouth formed into a grimace. Yes, he remembered alright.

"_And to be fair,"_ Diesel 10 continued, _"It was merely a misadventure of yours that got you sent away after two of the green monstrosities failed at their own simple jobs. Despite the many occasions that you've tried to be friendly to those stinkies, yes, I know all about that so you needn't look ashamed of yourself, in fact, I commend you for making the effort to show that we diesels have much better manners than the stinking steamies. Despite all those attempts on your part, do you really think that they want to be friends with you?"_

"_Well,"_ murmured Diesel, _"When you put it like that, I suppose not."_

"_It's not just that,"_ said Diesel 10. _"Every time a new or visiting diesel comes to the island, all it gets is abuse, insults, and tricks played against it. We diesels may not be subtle in how we tell the steamies what we think of them, but we only retaliate when they start first. That's how noble we are. That's how well-mannered we are. We prefer to get on with the job to show Sir Topham how useful we are. How many times have we had to step in whenever one of the steamies fails in its work? They're getting old and weak, and it won't be long before all the controllers realise that diesels are the only way forward."_

"_Yeah,"_ snarled Diesel, now beginning to accept that what he was being told was the truth. _"I've lost count of how many times I've had to do things that the steamies failed at."_

"_And you trucks,"_ growled Diesel 10, pointing at the youngsters who were sniggering amongst themselves. _"Do you really like being bashed about by the stinking steamies? Well, I suppose I can answer that question myself, after all, you showed that red blister, James, that he was better than you, didn't you? You showed him so well that you don't misbehave when he's pulling you, didn't you? And don't forget that boring blue engine, Edward, will you? He's really shown you who's boss of the marshalling yards, hasn't he? Yes, I know where you lot stand!"_

"_That's not true!"_ called out one of the youngsters.

"_Yeah,"_ another one said. _"We still play tricks on them!"_

"_And cause trouble!"_ a third called out.

"_And call them names!"_

"_And slow them down!"_

"_And bump them back!"_

"_And we laugh at them!"_

"_Yes, you _do_ do all those things,"_ agreed Diesel 10, _"But only when you think you can get away with it. Do you think that it's enough, though? Do you ever stop and wonder if there's more that you can do? More importantly, have you ever wondered why we diesels are here?"_

"_Well, why are you here?"_ asked the first youngster.

"_Yeah, tell us,"_ the second called out.

"_We want to know why you're here!"_

"_Tell us, tell us, tell us..."_ the group of youngsters started chanting together.

Diesel 10 looked down at the youths and smirked. This was just what he wanted, to be acknowledged as the one with all the answers. He let the youths carry on until a loud gruff voice called out, _"Yeah, please do tell us!"_

He then looked over to the green-suited BoCo as he addressed the gathering and decided that he needed to do a little bit more convincing.

"_Well, my friends, it's that simple I don't know why you all haven't thought of it. I suppose that's why I'm up here talking and you are all down there listening. But I'll tell you, it's because they don't make steam engines any more. It's as simple as that. Diesels are replacing all the steam engines that are getting too old to work any more. We're more powerful, more efficient, and more useful than the steamies, and it's only places like this island that still have steamies out of some misguided sympathy from the railway owners to the 'nice and charming' bleatings that the steamies make. I tell you all, anything the steamies can do, we can do, and do it better. Look at myself, for instance... "_

Diesel 10 lifted his mechanical hand, opening and closing its prongs as he did so, and asked, _"Do you know of any steamy that can do what I can do... er, did?"_

Shaking heads met Diesel 10's questioning scrutiny_. "No, I didn't think you would. Now you know why we diesels are here," _he told his audience.

Diesel 10 was pleased with the way things were going. He'd established himself as the only one amongst them that had the answers. Admittedly, they were answers to his own questions, but still, they were all listening to him and agreeing with what he was telling them. What he had told them was being accepted and, as long as the steamy-friendly diesels didn't waiver in their new stance then all should go well, as long as what his fellow conspirator had told him was true, he thought. The only problem was that the diesels as well as the steamies had been affected when that accursed engine's magic had gone of the rails, he thought, sniggering at his own joke. That had really changed things. His only wish now was that he could find a way to get all the diesels back to their former states, as everything would be for nothing if Sir Topham Hatt was to get new diesels from the mainland to replace those he'd lost when Lady's magic had failed. _But what if they've been affected as well,_ he wondered.

ooo

Jeanie felt nervous as she glanced at her passengers in her rear-view mirror. Whilst the old woman, Henrietta, seemed to be gentle and polite, she wasn't quite so sure that her friend, Toby, wasn't fully right in the head. _Maybe he's on a day out from the nut-house,_ she thought. _I hope he won't turn violent._

They were following behind the ambulance that had arrived to take Burnett Stone to St, Tibba's Hospital in Wellsworth, and it seemed that Toby was on a roller.

"_You see,"_ said the old man, excitedly, _"It's all because a magical engine in Shining Time has fallen ill. She's the one that keeps the magical railways and all the trains on Sodor alive. Her illness is so bad that her magic is failing and that's what's turned Henrietta and myself into people. When I was a tramcar, I'd take the workmen to their jobs in the quarries, and in the evenings, I would do night-time services from town to town with Daisy. She's another engine, but she's a diesel."_

"_Has this 'Daisy' woman been changed from a train into a human as well?"_ Jeanie asked him. _The more I keep him talking, the less chance there is that he'll turn nasty,_ she thought. _But what will he do if I ask or say the wrong thing?_

"_I don't really know,"_ replied Toby. _"I mean, I don't really know why we turned into people, Henrietta and I, that is, in the first place. All I remember from last night is picking up Burnett Stone and what he told me about Lady falling ill and, of course, the accident we had."_

"_Yes, the derailment,"_ acknowledged Jeanie. _"The accident that didn't have any wreckage."_

"_Yes,"_ agreed Toby, his voice rising with excitement. _"That's because I'm not missing anything. I crashed onto my side. That's how I'm aching on that side of my body and that's how Mr. Stone got injured when he was thrown out of my cab."_

_Well,_ Jeanie thought. _At least he's consistent with his story._

"_I wonder what Sir Topham will say when he finds out about us,"_ continued Toby_. "I think he'll be rather surprised when he sees Henrietta and myself actually walk into his office."_

"_And this 'Sir Topham' is your doc-, er, boss?"_ Jeanie asked him.

"_Yes. Sir Topham owns Sodor Railway."_

"_Er, do you have any friends other than Henrietta?"_

"_Yes, I do. Lots. Let me see, now... there's Thomas, Percy, Gordon, Henry, James, Edward, all of whom I see quite often. Then there's Duck, Mavis, Emily... I've so many friends it's hard to remember all their names. Oh, you know that bus we just passed, well, that's Bertie."_

"_That bus was 'Bertie'?"_ Jeanie asked him, incredulously, as she checked her rear-view mirror again, seeing an ordinary but old-fashioned red single-decker bus picking up some passengers at a bus stop.

"_Yes,"_ said Toby. _"We compete for passengers sometimes but he's a good friend, really."_

Jeanie's eyes flicked up to her mirror again and she saw the elderly man's eager-looking face. _Or is it manic,_ she wondered. _Just wait till my sister hears about this. It would make a great children's story. They could even use electric model train with little faces on the front to make a show for TV!_

Suddenly, she giggled, then the giggles turned to loud laughter and she was forced to stop the car as the ridiculousness of what she'd just thought sunk in. She couldn't stop laughing until after about four or five minutes of repeatedly wiping tears away from her eyes with some tissues from a box she kept in her glove-compartment before regaining enough control of herself to apologise and drive off again. _When we get to St. Tibba's, _she thought,_ I really must ask if they're missing a couple of patients_.

ooo

James carefully bit into the custard cream biscuit and started to chew what was in his mouth. After two of three chews his eyes lit up with surprise as he experienced its taste. Chewing the soggy mass even more, he felt his tongue pushing it to the back of his mouth and he reflexively swallowed it.

"_Wow!"_ he exclaimed.

"_What was it like?"_ asked Thomas, agog with anticipation as he held a custard cream of his own in his hand.

"_It was... wonderful,"_ said James with a big grin on his face. _"It's nothing like having coal shovelled into your firebox at all."_

"_What do you mean?"_ asked Percy.

"_Well,"_ said James, as he pulled another biscuit from the packet. _"You know how we can tell what type of coal we're burning by the smoke it gives off, well, this is like that but so much better. First of all, it felt very dry, then I felt my mouth getting wet on the inside and before I knew what I was doing, I was crunching it between my teeth. And the taste, well, I don't know how to describe it. No, there were two tastes. The hard bit on the outside that was dry tasted different to the soft cream inside, which was... well, it was exciting! And then the two tastes turned into one taste but I could still taste the first two tastes at the same time, and then I crunched it up some more and then I felt it going down my throat. If I still had my whistle, I be toot-tooting it as loud as I could!"_

Thomas and Percy looked at each and Thomas asked, _"Shall we...?"_

"_Let's!"_ agreed Percy, holding his own biscuit, and the two friends simultaneously placed a biscuit on their tongues and drew them back into their mouths. As they started chewing the biscuits Percy started to speak. _"You're chwight, Chames! Ich'sh chweally gw-" _and fell silent as biscuit crumbs dribbled and spat out of his mouth and onto his chest and lap, as well as James and the table.

Over the sounds of giggles and laughter, Gordon growled_, "I don't think you should try talking and eating at the same time, Percy,"_ before letting out a few chortles himself.

After the two friends had finished their biscuits, Thomas turned to Gordon and said, _"Well, are you going to show us how to eat those?"_ as he pointed to the packet of ready salted crisps on the table.

"_How typical of you little ones to ask us big ones how to do things,"_ replied Gordon, picking up the packet and tearing it open. Unfortunately, Gordon didn't realise how delicate it was and it tore further than he thought it would, spilling half the crisps onto his lap and the floor by his feet, which set of the engines laughing again.

"_Whoops!"_ he said, blushing. _"I don't think that was supposed to happen!"_

He picked up one of the crisps and put it into his mouth to chew.

"_Mmmm!"_ he murmured, as his tongue dissolved the salt off the crisp. _"I want more of these!"_ and he started to stuff more and more of the crisps into his mouth until it was full. He chewed and swallowed and picked another handful of crisps to put into his mouth, only stopping as he realised how undignified he looked. His face reddened even more as the other continued to laugh at him.

"_Are... are you shu-shu-sure you're sup-up-posed to eat that many in one g-g-go?"_ asked Percy, not able to stop himself laughing.

"_I... I couldn't help myself,"_ huffed Gordon. _"They were making me do it,"_ he added, pointing at the rest of the crisps on his lap. _"I feel really thirsty, now, though!"_

"_What about you, Henry?"_ asked James. _"Tell us what the orange juice is like."_

Henry picked up the glass of fresh juice and put it to his lips. He swallowed a mouthful and let out a most unusual sound, _"Blehhgh!"_

"_What wrong?"_ asked Thomas. _"Don't you like it?"_

"_Whu-huu-hu-huh!"_ Henry's eyes closed tight as his face shrivelled up at the bitterness of the orange juice and he shivered as he said,_ "It-it-it's horrible! It was so cold and it made my face want to curl up."_

After he'd recovered and opened his eyes, he asked, _"And people _drink_ that? This 'being human' thing is going to take me a while to get used to!"_

"_Well,"_ said Annie, sitting at the other table, _"This milk is nice."_

"_Yes,"_ agreed Clarabel. _"It's quite smooth to drink."_

"_Well, I'm glad some of you are enjoying yourselves,"_ moaned Henry. _"I think I'd be happy just to have coal and water to keep me going."_

"_Don't worry,"_ said James. _"There's lots of other things that people eat and drink as well. I'm sure you'll find something that you'll like. Here, have a biscuit."_

Henry reached over to the packet James was offering just as Sir Topham re-entered the café carrying several sheets of paper.

"_Ah, glad to see you're all well. I'm pleased to say that Debra finally showed up and it seems that she was suffering the same coughing and itchy eyes thing that I had last night. Whilst she sorted out your lists, I had time to do some phoning around, and I've got some good new for you all. Harold and the buses haven't been affected in any way so it seems that it's only the trains' magic that's been affected. I've arranged with the bus company to send some coaches to act as replacement services to cover the journeys that you were supposed to be doing, so the platform will get less crowded as the morning wears on. Debra will tell anyone that phones or comes here expecting to use a train to use the buses instead. If anyone asks why the trains aren't running, I've told her to say that there's a fault with the signalling system. I've contacted the local radio station and given the same reason to them so that they can make regular announcements to their listeners so that they can make alternative arrangements._

"_Now, I've also arranged for either a driver or a fitter to accompany each of your groups so that a familiar face for any of the trains that may have changed and become distressed by what's happened to them will help to soothe any worries."_

"_The taxis will be here soon and they know where they've got to go. I've arranged for Harold to come and pick me up so that I can get home as quickly as possible to meet Mr. Percival as the narrow-gauge engines at the quarry have changed just like all you have. Not only that, I've been having phone calls from the other station masters to say that their engines have changed as well. I don't know if this is a permanent thing or only temporary, so if the worse comes to the worst and you start to feel as though your going to change back into engines, you must make sure that you are in the open air and as near to a railway track as possible. I don't want to have to explain how a steam engine happens to suddenly appear inside a taxi!"_

Whilst the group of former engines talked excitedly about the narrow-gauge engines, Percy called out, _"Please, Sir Topham Hatt, Sir! You haven't given me a task to do yet, Sir. I want to be useful as well."_

"_Oh, I'm so sorry, Percy. I had so many things on my mind, I forgot your task. What I'd like you to do is to stay on the platform here and keep an eye open for any, um, former engines that have made their way here and to explain to them what is happening. Any messages I have for you during, Debra can pass them on to you. What you'll be doing is a really useful thing, and I know I can rely on you to do it right."_

Sir Topham knew that Percy was one of the most timid engines on Sodor and, with the lack of self-confidence that the little green engine had often displayed, he knew that to show Percy that he had faith and trust in him would do him the most good during this crisis.

"_Excuse me, Sir Topham," _said Gordon,_ "But you said that 'it's only the trains' magic that's been affected'. Are there other magics on Sodor?"_

"_Um, er, yes. It appears that that is the case,"_ replied Sir Topham. _"Although it's only the trains that have been affected at the moment. I don't really know any more than that until I get back to Hatt Hall." _

"_Sir Topham, Sir,"_ said Thomas. _"Have you heard anything about Edward yet? Has he changed as well?"_

"_No, Thomas. I haven't heard anything yet. If and when I do, I'll let Percy know so that he can tell you when you get back, though I really do hope that what's happened to us hasn't happened to the trains on the mainland. _

"_Excuse me, Sir Topham," _said Gordon,_ "But you said that 'it's only the trains' magic that's been affected'. Are there other magics on Sodor?"_

"_Um, er, yes. It appears that that is the case,"_ replied Sir Topham. _"Although time will tell if it is only the trains that have been affected. I don't really know any more than that until I get back to Hatt Hall. Right, here are your lists and a pen each."_ Sir Topham then walk around the two tables handing out individual lists, and then said, _"Gordon, James and Thomas, if you three come with me to the office, I'll give you some coins each and show you how to use a phone if you need to contact me whilst you're out."_

ooo

Roger Jenkins slowed his car to a stop just next to where three rather outlandishly dressed women were climbing through the wire fence that separated the lane he was driving along and the railway tracks. He was in his mid-twenties and, just like any other young man with a new, well, second-hand, open-top Ford Escort Cabriolet, he'd taken it out for a drive in the early morning sunshine. Not wanting to knock anyone down in the narrow and twisty lane, he had to watch out in case any of the women veered into his path, hence the reason why he stopped.

"_I say, Ladies,"_ he called out. _"Strange place for a morning walk, isn't it? The railway lines, I mean."_

"_Naw, laddie,"_ said Emily. _"Ma wee friend here was finding it tiresome walking on the tracks, so we decided to gae on tha road instead," _she added, gesturing towards Daisy.

"_Oh, are you tourists?"_ he asked, hearing the old woman's Scottish accent as he cast his eyes up and down the green-dressed woman standing beside her, in fact, he observed, the very short green-dressed, stiletto-wearing, long black-haired woman who was fluttering her obviously fake eye-lashes at him.

"_Naw. Ma frins an masel live no far awae from here."_

"_Oh, right,"_ acknowledged Roger. _"You're on your way home, then?"_

"_Naw, laddie. Wer on oor way to tha station to see Sir Topham Hatt. Mibbies yer be gae tha way yersel... " _

Roger knew a hint when he heard one and, if he played his cards right, well, who knew how better his day could get. Jumping out of his car, he raced round around to the other side and opened the front passenger door for the smiling, rosy-cheeked, long black-haired woman with the _very_ short dress to sit down, after all, politeness could get a young man very far indeed.

Daisy sat down in the front seat and crossed her legs in the cramped space. _"Ooh, thank you, kind sir,"_ she said, charmingly.

"_Mu-mu-my pleasure, Miss,"_ gulped Roger, then he turned to the woman's two older friends and opened the rear passenger door with his left hand whilst gesturing with his right in a sweeping bow, pointing to the rear seats as he said,_ "And you too, my dear ladies,"_

"_Thank you very much, kind Sir,"_ said Mavis. _"It's most generous of you."_

"_Not at all,"_ replied Roger. _"I'm sorry it's not longer that a few minutes drive,"_ he said, glancing again at the long legs of the woman in the front passenger seat. _"Oh, before we set off, you'd better put your seatbelts on. I wouldn't want any of you to get hurt if I had to do an emergency stop!"_

"_Seatbelt?"_ Mavis asked.

"_Yes,"_ replied Roger. _"They're right next to you," _he added, a slight look of puzzlement on his face. _This can't be the first time she's ever been in a car, surely?_

He turned to face the gap between the two front seats and said, pointing at the same time, _"Down the side of the seat by there. Pull it across your body and clip it in that little bit by there."_

He watched to make sure that they'd fastened their belts and looked towards Daisy. _"Here, let me help you."_

"_Excuse me," _he murmured. He then stretched his right arm across Daisy to grab hold of her seatbelt from where it was hanging beside her whist holding onto her headrest with his left hand, his face mere inches away from hers as her looked into her innocent eyes with their long eyelashes fluttering so appealingly at him. _"This one is a bit tricky sometimes,"_ he said to her, his heart beating so much inside his chest he thought she might be able to hear it.

Daisy smiled back at him and said, _"Ooh, you're so noble, thinking of our safety. You are such a gentleman."_

"_It... it's my pu-pu-pleasure,"_ he mumbled back, feeling his face redden even more. He turned his face away from her to concentrate on clipping the belt in place and mentally weighed the pros and cons of gently tapping her smooth thigh, but decided that he didn't want to alarm her, and so merely said, _"There, all done,"_ and sat back in order to drive off to the station.

As they set off, he looked up at the rear-view mirror and asked, _"Aren't you two rather hot in those long coats of yours?"_

"_Naw,"_ said Emily_. "It... it's tha way we usually dress."_

"_And you, Miss, you don't find it too cold with... without a long coat?"_

"_No,"_ replied Daisy. _"A long coat wouldn't show off my swerves,"_ she added, her voice sounding rather seductive to his ears.

Roger coughed as he felt his face redden. _"Um-er, I see!"_

After a short while, Daisy looked over to Roger and, smiling, said, _"My, this is a smooth ride. I could sit here all day long."_

"_Well,"_ said Roger, and despite his cheeks reddening enough to match Daisy's blusher, he decided to go for gold. _"Mu-mu-maybe I could give you a ride some other time?"_

"_Ooh,"_ squealed Daisy. _"That would be lovely. I'd like that very much. What about you two?"_ she asked, turning to her friends in the back and showing off more of her legs than Roger thought humanly possible.

"_I wouldna mind at all,"_ replied Mavis. _"What about you, Emily? Do you fancy a ride in this young man's car as well some time?"_

"_Aye, I most certainly would like tha,"_ Roger heard the old woman, Emily, say. _Bugger,_ he thought.

ooo

"_Here you are, Gentlemen,"_ Sir Topham Hatt said to the three former engines, handing them each a small slip of paper. _"Those are the phone numbers for Knapford Station and Hatt Hall in case you need to get in contact with me. Put them somewhere safe so that you don't lose them."_

Thomas, Henry and Gordon all looked down at their bodies and, coming to the same decision, they all put the little slips of paper into their coat's side pockets, tucking them down to the very bottom so that they wouldn't fall out.

"_And here are some coins for any pay-phone that you may have to use,"_ Sir Topham added, opening up the station's petty cash tin and picking out a handful of fifty-pence pieces. _"If you meet any other, er, former engines or wagons, tell that that Lady's ill and her magic is affecting the island and that we are working on helping her to get better and change them al back to trains. For now, they are all to stay where they are unless I tell them to go somewhere else. It's important that you tell them that or goodness knows what some of them will get up to."_

He handed a few of the coins to Gordon and Henry but, when it came to Thomas' turn, Sir Topham stopped and asked, _"Thomas, what have you been up to for you to get your hand so dirty so soon?"_

Thomas looked at his right hand and gasped, seeing brown dust all over his shiny black glove. _"I don't know, Sir. My hand was clean when I left the café." _

He turned his hand over to check the other side of the glove and saw that that, too, was dirty. _That's strange,_ he thought. _I haven't touched anything other than those biscuits I ate._

Sir Topham handed him a tissue from a box on Debra's desk to wipe his glove clean.

"_Thank you, sir,"_ said Thomas, and he started to wipe his dirty glove, but then he saw something glitter near the tip of one of the fingers.

"_Ooh, what's that?"_ he asked.

"_What is it?"_ queried Sir Topham, looking over.

"_I don't know, Sir. It's very small whatever it is."_

"_Here, let me have a look,"_ said Sir Topham, and he took another tissue, wetted it with a little bit of spit, and dabbed it on the part of the finger that Thomas was now pointing at.

"_Well, I never,"_ he said, excitedly. _"Have you been out prospecting, Thomas?"_

"_What do you mean, Sir?"_

"_Well, this looks just like gold, but it's not really. It's what's called iron pyrite."_

"_What's iron pyrite, Sir?"_ asked Gordon.

"_It's rock that looks like gold,"_ said Sir Topham, smiling. _"It's made of iron and sulphur, but if a prospector finds some and takes it to an assay's office, he'd be laughed at. Just because it looks like gold, it doesn't necessarily mean that it is gold, and this stuff fools a lot of people into thinking it is gold, that's why they call it 'Fool's Gold'. Many years ago when I was a young man, myself and some friends went to the Dolaucothi Gold Mine in Mid Wales where the Romans used to dig for gold when they were in Britain nearly two thousand years ago. It was a very interesting place, and there was a stream nearby where we were allowed to pan for gold, though after two hours of sieving through the mud all we ended up with was a teaspoonfull of this stuff, fool's gold. So, Thomas, that's why I asked you if you'd been out prospecting. Well... ?"_

"_No, Sir. I haven't been out anywhere. I've only walked up here with the others from the engine sheds."_

"_Hmm,"_ sighed Sir Topham, a slight frown over his features as he thought about this development. _"The only places where you'd find this stuff is if you were digging into a mountain or panning for gold in a river."_

Thomas's eyes widened in surprise. _"Sir, Sir, I think I know where it came from, and if I'm right, then Percy may have some in his pockets as well."_

"_Why on earth would you think that, Thomas?"_ asked Gordon. _"What _have_ you two been up to this time?"_

"_Nothing,"_ snapped Thomas, glaring up at his tall friend. _"If I'm right, then there's only one place it could have come from. Come on, let's go and check Percy!"_

The four men made their way back to the café and Thomas, leading the group, quickly burst in and cried out, _"Percy, hold your hands up in the air!"_

"_Wu-wu-why? What's wrong? I haven't du-du-done anything!"_ the short green-coated man stammered, with a look of puzzlement on his face.

Instead of replying, Thomas asked him, _"Have you put your hands in your pockets yet?"_

"_Nu-nu-no,"_ Percy anxiously replied. _"Wu-why?"_

Thomas looked over to Sir Topham Hatt and said, _"Sir Topham, Sir, if you would be so kind... "_

"_Stand up, please, Percy,"_ commanded Sir Topham.

Nervously, Percy carefully stood up and gulped, _"Wu-wu-what have I done wrong, Sir?"_

"_You've done nothing wrong, Percy,"_ replied Sir Topham. _"But you may just help us with a little puzzle."_

"_Oh,"_ said Percy, slightly alarmed. _"Hu-how's that?"_

"_We'll soon find out,"_ said Sir Topham, stepping forward and raising his hands as though he was going to embrace Percy but instead, smoothly slipped them into his coat pockets on either side of him. He dug his fingertips into the very bottom of the pockets and, after scraping them back and forth for a few seconds, withdrew them. Stepping back, he held both hands up in front of his face and raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"_Well, Thomas,"_ he said. _"It seems you were right. Would you care to tell me how you knew this?"_

"_Yes, Sir, Sir Topham, Sir. It was last night. I was waiting at the engine shed signal and Percy pulled up behind me. Next, that smelly Diesel Ten came along on the parallel track and covered us both with rived mud. He told us he'd scooped it from the river bed just for us, Sir. He's been doing it to me for the last few weeks, Sir, and I was going to report him to you this morning, Sir, but... but this happened to us."_ Thomas gestured to his body to emphasise the transformation that had occurred during the night.

"_I see,"_ said Sir Topham in a serious tone. _"I'll be having some strong words with him when I see him next. Deliberately setting out to cover an engine in mud is certainly not a useful thing for him to do. Leave him to me, Thomas, and I'll sort him out. Right, Ladies and Gentlemen, now that the excitement is over, let's get on with the show, shall we? I see that the taxi drivers are waiting on the platform for you."_

Out on the platform, three men wearing the light blue fleece jackets of Knapford Taxis were wandering round looking for someone official to report to, and Sir Topham and the former engines went out to meet them.

ooo

Diesel 10 stood on the steps beside the fuel tank and glared at the youths as they whispered and sniggered among themselves.

"_Listen carefully to what I want you lot to do,"_ he called out, pointing his metal-pronged hand in their general direction. _"Seeing as you like getting into mischief so much, what I want is for you to create some confusion and delay amongst those stinky steamies. If you see any of them wandering about, distract them and send them on a wild goose chase somewhere. I'll leave it up to you to decide how. Diesel, I'd like you to stay here at the yards in case any of the other diesels show up. If they do, tell them I said for them to wait here until I return. BoCo, I've told you how the steamies try and get us diesels into trouble all the time, so I want you to remember that when you go about on your task. What I want you to do is to spy on them and report to me what they get up to. I don't trust them one little bit and we need to keep our wits about us, so don't let us down, will you? Remember what they called you when you first came here?"_

"_Yeah, I do,"_ replied BoCo. _"Don't worry, I'll let you know what they're up to."_

"_Good. Splodge, you two will go and look for that steamroller, George. There's a little job I've got for him that'll be right up his street."_

As the group dispersed to go about their various tasks, two pairs of eyes looked down from the crest of a hill over-looking the marshalling yards.

"_Do you think he's up to it?"_ the owner of the first pair asked.

"_We'll find out soon enough,"_ replied his companion. _"Or else he'll find his 'new' form somewhat less robust than what he'd like!"_

Laughing, the two watchers turned around and set off in opposite directions.

ooOOoo


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 

"_Do you know where George is working today?"_ Dodge asked Splatter, as they set off on their errand.

"_No. Do you?"_ asked Splatter.

"_I wouldn't have asked you that if I knew where he was, you idiot. I asked you because I don't really feel like walking everywhere at this slow speed. Remember, we don't have wheels any more!"_ Dodge rolled his eyes. Sometimes, he wondered if there'd ever be a time when he'd have an intelligent conversation with his friend, and just right now, it seemed that this wasn't going to be it. _"It's going to take all day to find him at this rate,"_ he said to Splatter,_ "and we haven't even reached Knapford Station yet."_

"_Well, we know he's not here, that's a start, isn't it?" _Splatter stated, cheerfully.

"_I KNOW that, you dunderhead! I can see that for myself! Sometimes, Splatter, I wonder about you."_

"_You mean, I'm wonderful?"_

"_It would be wonderful if you had some sense in that head of yours!"_

"_Oh, thank you! I like it when you say nice things ab-"_

"_Wow! Look at that!"_ Dodge suddenly called out, cutting off Splatter's comment and pointing to a small shed about thirty-odd yards away on their right.

"_What? Where?"_ "_There! Sticking out from behind that small shed. I think our walking problems are over!"_

Behind the shed was a small four-wheeled pump trolley that the railway maintenance workers rode on to travel along the track when they needed to get about.

"_Come on,"_ Dodge called back to his friend, as he walked across the tracks to the shed. _"Give me a hand to lift it onto the main line."_

The two former diesels, as well as all the other engines that had changed overnight, still retained a proportion of the power they formerly had as engines, as well as being slightly heavier than they should be, though that power would have to be consciously applied for it to become apparent, and both Dodge and Splatter found that they were easily able to manhandle the trolley onto the track. They didn't question this, though, as they were quite used to, as engines, increasing the amount of power they needed to move the wagons they were shunting.

"_We'll be able to go much faster now, Splatter,"_ said Dodge.

"_Yeah. We can really zip along on this. I wonder how fast we can get it to go?"_

"_Well, there's only one way to find THAT out, isn't there! Get on, Splatter, and grab that front handle. I'll give us a push to get going."_

Splatter climbed onto the trolley and positioned himself ready to start pumping, whilst Dodge stood at one corner. _"Ready?"_ he asked.

"_Ready,"_ replied Splatter.

"_Here we go..."_ and as Dodge was just about to give the trolley a mighty heave forward, he heard a loud, _"SPLODGE!"_

Looking back over his shoulder, he saw Diesel 10 walking across the tracks towards them.

"_WHAT ARE YOU TWO UP TO?"_ yelled Diesel 10.

"_We...we're going to look for George!"_ Dodge shouted back.

"_I KNOW THAT! THAT'S WHAT I TOLD YOU TO DO! I MEANT, WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH THAT?" _

"_We're going to look for George on it. It'll be much quicker than walking."_

Diesel 10 raised an eyebrow as he considered what his minion had just said. Thinking about it, he knew he'd rather not have to walk about all day, either, and it would look good in front of the other engines as well. He, their leader, shouldn't have to walk about like a common, er, former engine, after all.

"_WAIT FOR ME! YOU'LL TAKE ME TO GEORGE YOURSELVES!"_

Dodge waited as Diesel 10 climbed onto the trolley and took a grip of the fulcrum support in the middle, and then he waited.

"_WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? THESE THINGS DON'T MOVE BY THEMSELVES!"_

"_Aren't you going to do any pumping as well?"_ Dodge asked him, looking up at the impatient Diesel 10.

"_**I CAN'T BE EXPECTED TO PUMP THIS THING ALL DAY, I'LL BE TOO BUSY MAKING PLANS! NOW, GET THIS THING MOVING!"**_

Dodge sighed and re-positioned himself to give the trolley a push forward. _"Are you ready...again, Splatter?"_

"_Yep,"_ his friend replied.

"_Okay, here we go...START PUMPING NOW!"_ Dodge yelled, and as the trolley started to pick up speed, he quickly jumped clambered onto the buffer on his left and onto the trolley, catching hold of the rear pump handle to assist Splatter.

After a few seconds and their speed having increased quite noticeably, Splatter shouted, _"WHEEEEEEEEEEEEE...This is fun!"_

"_Yes, it is,"_ panted Dodge. _"But we'll...have to stop...at the...points to...change them...ourselves,"_ he added, spacing what he had to say between his pumping.

After about a minute or so of steady pumping, they had got into quite a rhythm, and Dodge could see that they were approaching Knapford Station quite rapidly compared to the walking they had to earlier that morning.

"_By my...reckoning,"_ he panted again, _"We're doing...just over...fifteen...miles an...hour...I wonder...if we...can go...any faster!"_

ooo

"_Debra,"_ said Sir Topham, as he and Percy entered the traffic office. _"This is Percy, one of the former engines I was telling you about. He'll be watching out for any others that may find their way here. Percy, this is Debra. Well, you've seen her before, but not spoken with her."_

"_Hello, Miss Debra,"_ gushed Percy, excited at meeting one of the real humans, other than his driver or fireman, that worked on the railways.

"_Er...hello, Percy,"_ replied Debra, somewhat overwhelmed that she was actually talking to a steam engine and he was answering back to her. Normally, that was only done by Sir Topham, the other station masters and the other railway workers such as drivers, fireman or the railway maintenance workers. _"Um...er...how are you, Percy?"_

"_I'm very well, thank you, Miss Debra,"_ The green-coated replied. _"Miss Debra, is it all right if I stay in here with you for a while, Miss?"_

Debra looked to Sir Topham to see what he thought of the idea.

"_You can stay in here for a little while, Percy, but then I'll want you out on the platform watching out for the others. Debra will be quite busy today and I don't want her disturbed too much." _

"_Yes, Sir Topham, Sir,"_ acknowledged Percy. _"I'm really happy you think I'm useful enough to do this that, Sir."_

"_Of course you are, Percy. I wouldn't have you doing it if you weren't useful,"_ Sir Topham told him. _"Now, I've got some important phone calls to make before Harold arrives to take me to St. Tibba's to see Burnett Stone. Debra, if any of the other station masters phone to report missing engines, tell them I'm aware of the problem and just take down the details for me. I'll be pho-, ah, that's about us! Turn your radio up for a moment please, Debra."_

"_...this morning that due to a major fault with the railway signals, and for safety reasons whilst repair work is being carried out, there'll be no rail services at all on Sodor until further notice. Sir Topham Hatt offers his most sincerest apologies to anyone inconvenienced by breakdown, and that normal services will be resumed as soon as possible. And now, back to our regular morning drama, 'Tall Tales for Simple Solutions'..."_

"_Excellent,"_ said Sir Topham, pleased with the announcement. _"Now, Debra, what was I saying? Ah, yes. I'll be phoning Barrow to ask them to let me know when Edward arrives there. I've already told them to stop any other trains from coming to Sodor. Edward will have to wait there until all this is over and things are back to normal, as long as he hasn't been affected like the others, that is._

"_Oh, and if you'd be so kind, would you phone my wife and tell her that an emergency has arisen and that as I expect to be kept busy all day, I don't know what time I'll be home tonight, but I will be having a quick business lunch with Peregrine Percival at one o'clock at Hatt Hall. I know she's going out shopping this morning and I'll see her if she's home by dinnertime. If not, I'll see her later tonight."_

ooo

Roger flashed his headlights at a taxi that was waiting to pull out from the street leading to Knapford Railway Station before pulling up next to the station's entrance door to drop the three ladies off. He applied the handbrake, jumped out, and made his way round to assist Daisy in getting out of the car. He had to show her that he was the gentleman she thought him to be, after all.

"_Allow me,"_ he said, pleasantly. After opening the front passenger door, he leant across Daisy and unfastened her seatbelt, then, standing back slightly, he offered her his hand to help her up out of the low seat.

She lifted her legs out and placed them on the kerb, and pushed herself up out of the car, stumbling forward towards Roger, who quickly caught hold of her arms to stop her falling. _"Oh, thank you ever so much,"_ she purred, _"I might have slipped and ruined my swerves. I'm highly sprung, you know."_

"_I...I only did what a gentleman would do,"_ said Roger, slowly letting go of her, wondering how he could capitalise on this without making a fool of himself. He decided to continue the act and opened Mavis' door, seeing that both her and the other one, Emily, had managed to undo their seat belts without any problem. Smiling graciously, he offered his hand to Mavis to help her out of the car just as he had done for Daisy.

"_Thank you, Sir,"_ she said, smiling at Roger.

He nodded to her and said, _"It's quite all right, Madam. I'm only too pleased to have been of some assistance to you all." _Despite the appeal of Daisy, he felt much more comfortable talking to Mavis, whom he reckoned to be ten or so years older than Daisy, as she wasn't provocatively suggestive in her speech. Mavis, when talking to him, had been quite straight forward, pleasant and rather charming in her own way_. "I hope the ride was smooth enough for you?"_ he asked.

"_Ooh, yes,"_ he heard Daisy squeal behind him before Mavis had a chance to reply. _"It was a very smooth ride. It was one of the smoothest rides I've ever had!"_

To spare his blushes, Roger looked quickly across to the old woman and said, as he closed Mavis' door_, "Stay there, my dear, I'll come round and help you out as well,"_ and walked round the back of the car to open Emily's door.

"_Och,"_ said Emily. _"It's a rare treat indeed to meet a braw wee laddie such as yerself."_

"_Er, well, thank you for that,"_ he said, absolutely loving to hear her rich Scottish accent, and although it had taken a few repetitions on Emily's part, he had soon leant to understand the general drift of what she was saying.

He'd found his two rear passengers to be quite entertaining during the drive to the station, despite some of the peculiar things they often said. They'd sounded as though they were train drivers, but when he'd asked them if that was the case, Emily's reply has been that they weren't drivers, as all the drivers were men. Somehow, they had managed to avoid telling him what they actually did, which he only now realised, come to think of it.

"_Well, Roger, tha two lassies an masel, we hae a wee...fankle we hae to sort oot inside tha station wit Sir Topham Hatt, so we'll hae to be gae now, an aye, t'was indeed a guid smooth ride ye gie us. Thank ye verra much, laddie."_

"_My pleasure, ladies. I hope you sort your...wee fankle or whatever it is out!" _

As he watched the three women then walk away to the station's entrance, he thought to himself_. Damn, I didn't get a cha-_ but his thoughts were brought to a stop as Daisy turned back and called to him, _"Once everything's back to normal, maybe I'll give YOU a ride one day!"_

"_Uh...er...thank you,"_ replied a rather surprised Roger. _"I-I-I look forward to it very much!"_

He stared at the backs of the women as they went inside the station. _"Phwaarr! She's hot!"_ he murmured, quite oblivious to the fact that he'd just seemingly been propositioned by a British Rail Class 101 passenger diesel.

ooo

As he concluded yet another phone call from a station master reporting missing engines, Sir Topham heard the sound of Harold the Helicopter making a fly-by to announce his arrival and so he went out onto the platform for a last check that things were okay before he left, well, relatively okay considering the morning he was having. As he walked towards the station exit, he saw three women walking towards him.

"_Sir Topham, Sir,"_ a woman dressed in a long black coat with bright yellow trimmings called out, _"What's happened? Why are we like people, Sir?"_

He studied the three newcomers and gently sighed. _"Ah, Mavis, Emily and Daisy, I presume?"_

"_Tha be right, Sir Topham. It's me, Emily,"_ replied the woman in a long, green and gold-trimmed leather coat, her Scottish accent confirming that it was definitely Emily_. "A woke up this morn an A wasna an engine no more. I was a lass, an so was Mavis and yon lassie, Daisy. What's happened to us?"_

"_What about my work at the quarry?"_ asked Mavis.

"_And what's going to happen to my swerves when I'm like this?"_ asked the woman wearing a very short green dress, confirming Sir Topham's reckoning as to their identities.

Three out of three, thought Sir Topham, smiling. _"Ladies, ladies,"_ he said, opening his arms in welcome and gently guiding them towards the station café. _"All I can say at the moment is that something bad has happened to Lady, causing her magic to weaken. You're not the only ones to be affected by it, and I've sent some of the former engines to find out how many of the other trains have, er, changed as well."_

"_Has any of the others changed, Sir?"_ asked Mavis.

"_Well,"_ replied Sir Topham, _"the ones that I've met so far are Gordon, Henry, James, Thomas and his two coaches, and Percy. Also, Tob-"_

"_Och, the puir wee bairns,"_ said Emily, interrupting him. _"How are they all taking it, Sir?"_

"_They're...adapting quite well,"_ he said to her. _"In fact, Percy is inside the traffic office right now. Wait here a second and I'll fetch him."_

The three ladies waited outside the café and started talking amongst themselves, wondering who else of their friends might be in the same predicament as them, but they were interrupted when Sir Topham returned with a short, rather podgy, green-coated man. He had short, glossy black hair, a round, chubby face and bright, excited eyes, and Emily, suddenly feeling that she had to wrap her arms around this man and protect him as though he was a little boy, said, _"Awww! Look at the wee bairn!"._

"_Ladies..."_ called Sir Topham. _"May I introduce you to Percy? Percy, as I'm sure you can see, this is Emily, this is Mavis, and this is Daisy. Percy, I can't stay here as Harold is waiting for me over in Knapford Park. Please take these three dears into the café and sort out some food and drink for them. Ladies, I will see you later with more news on our little...problem, yes?"_ Sir Topham, leaving the foursome to chat amongst themselves, hurried out to his car for the short drive to the park green where Harold was waiting for him.

Fifteen minutes later, as he rode in Harold to St. Tibba's, he was hoping that Burnett Stone would be in a comfortable enough state to give him more details about Lady's predicament and what was happening at Shining Time, not to mention the box that he had to open. He knew what box Burnett was referring to, of course, as it was something that his father had left him after he died, with a letter telling him he was only to open it on the rarest of occasions and only if certain circumstances arose. The problem with the engines changing into humans, though not specified, per se, would certainly meet those requirements, and with Lady herself having said that he should open it, he knew that something very serious was going on. He needed to get whatever clues he could from Burnett and to know if Lady had said anything else as well, or else it would be near impossible to know what to do to save her and the rest of the trains.

Thinking of the engines he'd met that morning, he was amazed at how well they seemed to be coping in their new forms. His father had introduced him to Gordon when he was a young boy, and afterwards, to the rest of the talking engines that worked on Sodor. Since that day and, indeed, as he grew older, knowing that the day would come when _he_ would be running the railways on the island, he had always viewed the engines as though they were children. The conversations he had had whenever talking to one of them had always been at a level comparable to that he'd have with a ten or eleven year-old child, and when he'd shown Gordon, Thomas and James how to use the telephone that morning, well, they'd picked it up straight away. _Which is only natural,_ he thought. _After all, the number of times they've seen their driver using one of the emergency track-side phones, they'd obviously know about them. The same with consuming food, no doubt_. _It's no different to an engine taking on coal and water. I suppose it'll b interesting seeing their reactions to different tastes._

He was puzzled, though, about the lack of metal train parts where they'd transformed overnight. _Probably, because the human body is so complex, whatever it was that used the railway magic to turn them into people needed every little bit of them! But what the hell caused all this in the first place?_ But Sir Topham knew he wouldn't get any more answers until he spoke with Burnett Stone and discovered what was in the box he would be opening at Hatt Hall later that day. Sighing, he looked out of the window and watched the scenery below pass by as they made their way to St. Tibba's hospital.

ooo

Toby and Henrietta and the young woman, Jeanie, were waiting in the corridor outside the entrance to the emergency ward as the medical staff saw to Burnett Stone's injuries. Toby and Henrietta were clasping each other's hands anxiously as they fretted about what might be wrong with him. Jeanie assumed that he'd almost certainly need to have an operation for his arm to be put right, and quite probably also have some X-rays taken for his head injury as well. The waiting, however, was affecting his two companions quite noticeably, for Toby had let go of Henrietta and was now pacing back and forth, muttering to himself. Henrietta, meanwhile, was standing against the wall with a worried look on her face, trying to touch his arm as he regularly passed by her.

They'd been waiting for almost twenty minutes, and Jeanie was asking herself as to why she was still there instead of simply leaving the threesome at the hospital and carrying on to her sister's in Knapford and their planned shopping trip, but the elderly couple had seemed so helpless and worried that she didn't want to just abandon them, despite her misgivings about their sanity. Not only that, she wanted to make sure that their injured friend was going to be okay, after all, she didn't want to annoy her sister with her worries about the injured man. It was as she was wondering if it would have been wiser to find a phone box and call an ambulance in the first place when her thoughts were distracted by the sound of a helicopter getting louder and louder. Curiosity made her walk over to the window and look out, thinking that it was no doubt one of the emergency air-lifts that she'd often heard of on the local radio news, but instead of seeing medical personnel rushing to collect a patient, she saw a plump man wearing a top hat and morning suit with a yellow waistcoat. He looked rather old-fashioned and formal, thought Jeanie, and she reckoned that he was one of the hospital big-wigs, with an afterthought that he must be really important if he had a helicopter to carry him about. _No wonder the health service is in a bad way if their money is being spent on helicopter rides instead of cars,_ she thought, cynically. She was quite surprised less than ten minutes later to see the very same portly gentleman walking over to where she, Toby and Henrietta were waiting.

Toby, on seeing him approach, suddenly rushed over to him and said, _"Sir Topham, Sir, I'm really glad to see you. What's happened, Sir? Why are Henrietta and I like people, Sir? What's happ-"_

"_Calm down a moment, Toby. Hello, Henrietta. First things first, are you both feeling okay after your change?"_ Sir Topham asked, stopping Toby's rushed questioning. The amount of times he'd heard that very question were beginning to take a toll on him, not only because he didn't know what was behind the event, but also because he was unsure as to what he could say to them that would be enough to calm them down. _How do you stop a child from panicking, _he'd wondered to himself. He was devoid of any useful information and it wouldn't be until he could speak with Burnett Stone and possibly go to Shining Time himself that he'd have any answer at all, and that was without whatever he'd find in the box his father'd left him.

"_Listen, Toby, Henrietta,"_ he said quietly, conscious of the young woman standing nearby._ "You're not the only two to be affected like this. Other eng-, your friends have changed as well. If you wait here while I speak with Burnett, maybe I can give you an answer to what's happened to you all, yes?"_

"_Um...er, yes, Sir Topham, Sir. I'll do that. Oh, Sir Topham, Sir, this young lady knows all about us, Sir. How does she know about us if she doesn't work for you, Sir?" _

Jeanie had never felt so uncomfortable or put on the spot in her life when she heard what the old man just said about her, making it sound as though after all she'd done for the three of them that morning she'd done something wrong, and what on Earth did the posh-looking man mean when he was talking about Toby's friends changing? Although the man had been talking quietly, the shiny walls of the corridor had helped to reflect what he was whispering to her ears, and she was _sure_ that he'd started to say the word 'engine'. Was he just as barmy as the odd couple she was waiting with? This was obviously a well-educated man, a Sir, even, a man whom the Queen had knighted, and he sounded as mad as Toby, then she saw him turn to face her, his eyes narrowing as he studied her.

"_And you are?"_ he asked, frowning.

"_I...I'm Jeanie, Jeanie Watkins. What's going on? What's he talking about, and who are you?"_she snapped, annoyed that suddenly, she was feeling like the guilty party being accused of something bad.

"_Well, Miss Watkins,"_ said Sir Topham, _"all I can say is that these two, er, people have been through a rather traumatic experience just recently and, um, anything they might have said to you may very well have been confused ramblings, and I'm Sir Topham Hatt, by the way."_

"_You're the fellow the other guy spoke to on the phone before he collapsed. What's going on here?"_

"_Rest assured, Miss Watkins, there's nothing to be alarmed about. I'm here now to take care of these two...er, people."_

"_She was really helpful to us, Sir Topham, Sir,"_ said Henrietta.

"_Yes,"_ agreed Toby. _"If it wasn't for her, Burnett Stone may not have got here so soon."_

"_Well,"_ said Sir Topham, _"in that case, may I offer you my most sincere thanks and apologise for any inconvenience you may have suffered. It was a really kind thing you did, Miss, helping some strangers in...er, difficulties. Thank you very much."_

Jeanie felt confused. Surprised at Toby's apparent back-stabbing with his accusation against her of knowing something she shouldn't, and then his attempt at redemption by praising her for helping them, and then she was even more surprised when Sir Topham followed it all by formally bowing to her.

"_Um...thank you, I think"_ she hesitatingly replied. _"If I may ask,"_ she continued_, "but, er, is there anything wrong with, er, what I mean is, um, are they alright?" _She tilted her head in Toby and Henrietta's direction.

"_Yes,"_ Sir Topham said reassuringly, standing up straight again. _"they're fine. Like I said, they've had rather a trying time and I'll be taking them home soon." _

"_Well, in that case,"_ replied Jeanie, deciding that now, with someone else taking responsibility for them, she'd rather not stay with these weird people, _"I'll be leaving now, but I would like to know how Mr. Stone gets on after his operation. Is there a way I can find out?"_ she dryly asked.

"_Yes, of course,"_ said Sir Topham. "_It's only right. After all, if it wasn't for you, he may not have got here in time."_

Sir Topham reached inside his coat and said, _"Here, have my business card."_

Jeanie took the offered card and read it, seeing that he was in fact the owner of all the railways on the Island of Sodor. _He really IS an important man,_ she thought. _No wonder he gets to fly around in helicopters!_

"_Er, thank you,"_ she said to him, adding, _"Well, I'll be going, then. So long, Sir Topham. Toby, Henrietta, I hope your friend gets well soon."_

With that, she headed back out of the hospital, glad that her ordeal had ended but feeling quite pissed off at the sour way it had ended. She stopped at the public call-box in the main entrance, deciding to ring her sister, Gemma, to explain why she was running late.

After managing to convince the nursing staff that it was vitally important he speak with their patient, Sir Topham was now listening to the strained voice of Burnett Stone as he lay on a wheeled hospital bed, waiting to go to the operating theatre.

"_It...it's really terrible there, Sir Topham. I had to leave Stacy behind and...and poor Mr. Conductor...there...there was nothing I could do for him. It was too late."_

"_And Lady, what of her?"_ he asked the frail-looking engineer.

"_She...she was almost gone when she sent me here to speak...with you. When...when I left, she was clinging on with the last bit of magic she had left, but now it may be too late. I...I felt a connection form between us shortly after...after the Diesel Ten incident, and it's been with me ever since, but I can't feel her now at all. It...it faded when I was in the ambulance."_

"_I see. You said you used Mr. Conductor's whistle to get here. Do you still have it?"_

"_Yes, it's in my coat pocket, in that...blue bag on the table over there..." _Burnett raised his right arm a couple of inches and pointed across the pre-op ward.

Sir Topham went over to the bag that the nurses had put Burnett's clothes into, and after rummaging around for a bit, came back with the whistle. He shook it close to his ear and found that there was still quite a bit of sparkle left inside. _"I can use this to go and check on Lady,"_ he said.

"_Be...be very careful,"_ Burnett whispered to him, the strain of the morning now catching up with him. _"The black smoke...It was using the ley lines to spread itself."_

"_Was it, now?"_ said Sir Topham. _"That's got to mean something, surely. I'll borrow some breathing apparatus that the Sodor firemen use. That should protect me from any dangerous smoke that might still be there."_

"_Don't forget to...to change your clothes afterwards."_

"_Yes, I'll make sure to do that." _

"_The engines here...how...how are they?"_

"_They're...coping. I've got some of the steamies out checking on the others. The narrow-gauge have changed. I'm worried about Edward, though. He's still on the mainland and I don't know what the situation is with him yet. I've cancelled all services on the island and I've started the bus replacements. There's not much else I can do until I check on Lady and find out what's in the box."_

"_Her message...what did she mean about that? What...what didn't she want the others to know about?"_

"_I don't know yet, not until I get back to Hatt Hall. Maybe she knows if there's a cure for her inside it. It could be anything."_

Sir Topham checked the time on his pocket watch. _"Burnett, I'm due to meet Mr. Percival at Hatt Hall shortly. We'll see what's in this box and when you're up to it, I'll speak with you then, yes?"_

"_Thank you, Sir Topham. Saving Lady means everything to me."_

"_It's everything to all of us, Burnett, everything! All the best with your operation!" _

Sir Topham left Burnett to get some rest, pondering over what he'd just found out. He was saddened with the news of Mr. Conductor's death, and wondered how that would affect the railway magic. He knew that the Americans used him as some sort of perception barrier against the public finding out about the magic of the railways, and now he was gone. _That'll change things for sure,_ he thought to himself. He hadn't met Stacy Jones, but hoped that she would recover from whatever it was that was wrong with her, but it was his worry for the magical engine, Lady, that was causing him to frown. Without her, there would be NO magic railway on Sodor!

Jeanie was concluding her chat with her sister when she noticed Sir Topham, Toby and Henrietta had left the hospital and were now walking towards the helicopter Sir Topham had arrived in.

"_Listen, Gem, I've got to go. They're about to leave but I need some sort of closure on this. I'll give you the full story when I get to your place, yeah?...Okay, bye!"_

Jeanie hung up the phone and began to follow after the trio as they neared the helicopter, but she halted as she took a short cut through the hospital car park when the aircraft's long rotor blades started to rotate. _Damn, too late!_ she thought. She watched as Toby and Henrietta carefully climbed inside the helicopter and then the door shutting behind them, leaving Sir Topham on the grass several yards away. She saw him step back a few paces and look up as the helicopter's spinning rotors gained speed, taking it up into the air and away from the hospital. _That's odd,_ she then thought, seeing Sir Topham rather suspiciously checking over his shoulders as he walked other to the other end of the hospital and nipping round a corner as if to hide from someone.

This really piqued her curiosity and she jogged over to where he'd gone to see what he was up to. She slowed down as she reached the corner and walked round, seeing him standing with his back to her, _blowing a whistle?_ She stepped up to him and reached forward to touch his arm to attract his attention, taking in a short breath to call his name at the same time.

Sir Topham hadn't used the whistle before, and was concentration on the instructions that Burnett Stone had given him. He was focusing his mind on his private study at Hatt Hall where he was to meet Mr. Percival, and just as he was about to blow Mr. Conductor's whistle for the third time, he felt someone tap his elbow and a female voice say, _"Excuse me, Sir Topham, b-" _

Just as she was speaking, Jeanie suddenly felt the ground fall away from beneath her feet, but she wasn't falling anywhere, nor floating. No, what she was feeling was as though she were being pulled through a long corridor of swirling, multi-coloured lights, and just as she thought all of this was never going to end, she felt herself standing back on the ground, but not where she'd been when she rounded the corner and tapped the stout gentleman's elbow. When her head stopped spinning, she saw that hospital car park and building had changed into a room in what she thought was a stately home, judging by the fancy décor and furniture she could see. Not only that, but there were three other people, all men, standing nearby and staring at her and where she was touching Sir Topham's arm.

"_-ut what are... WHAT THE HELL?" _she yelled out.

In the corner of her eye, she saw Sir Topham turn his head to look at to her. _"Oh, shit!"_ she heard him say, as she fainted with shock.

ooo

Percy's pleasant meeting with his female colleagues was interrupted by Henry returning from the marshalling yards with a rather large crowd.

"_Um, excuse me, Ladies,"_ he apologised, _"but I have to check my list with Henry to see who he has found. I'll be back soon."_

Out on the platform, he saw Henry trying to get all the former trains organised so that he and Percy could compare lists, but without much success. _"Please," _moaned Henry,_ "will you all stay still? Sir Topham's given us a job to do and we can't do it if you all keep moving around!"_

"_You see what I mean,"_ Diesel's oily tone whispered to BoCo, as they watched Henry and Percy talking together. _"They're trying to take over and tell us all what to do. It's always the same with those steamies. Do you understand now what Diesel Ten was telling you?"_

"_Oh, yes,"_ replied BoCo. _"I can see it all right."_

"_Sir Topham's given the steamies an important job to do, and they're already having trouble doing it. They're all useless. Watch this...Oh, Henry, what was it those trucks used to call you? Hypochondriac Henry, wasn't it?"_

A few of the former wagons and trucks that had come with Henry to the station started sniggering.

"_DON'T YOU LOT START AS WELL!"_ shouted Percy, his cheeks reddening with anger. _"And you, Dieseasel, leave Henry alone. You know he suffers illnesses now and again!"_

"_Don't you mean 'again and again'?"_ smirked Diesel, then, to BoCo, he said, _"See, the name-calling has started already!"_

"_Yeah,"_ BoCo agreed, disgusted with himself that he'd once believed the steamies to be friendly_. How could I have been so foolish?_ he wondered. _Diesel Ten was right when he said that the steamies always reveal their true colours._

"_Henry's always suffering from something!"_ he then called out. _"I don't know why Sir Topham keeps him here. The only way he'd be a really useful engine is if he let himself be melted down with the rest of the scrap metal!"_

"_W-w-w..."_ stuttered Percy, too shocked to speak with how BoCo, of all the diesels, should side against the steamies. Wasn't he a friend? And Henry wasn't even making an effort to defend himself, Percy noticed.

"_And you,"_ Diesel went on, staring at the podgy former engine. _"Two steamies together and they can't even do one simple job! What a joke!"_

"_W-w-well, I don't see you doing anything useful,"_ snarled Percy, finally managing to get out what he had in mind to say.

"_Well, I wouldn't want to take any credit away from you on your important...job,"_ Diesel replied, sarcastically.

Next thing, Emily stormed out of the café, closely followed by Mavis and Daisy_. "Wha be all this rammie oot here?"_ she shouted. _"Canna yer aw work toge'er for once? Whit will Sir Topham say when he heirs abo this fecht yer aw be doing?"_

Then she noticed Annie and Clarabel looking frightened as they huddled together with a couple of other former coaches in a group several yards away from the arguing men. _"Ma puir wee lassies! Come heir inna café oot o' tha way o' these bampots. Yer two as well, Annie, Clarabel. Leave tha dunderheids to themsels."_

And with that, the women retired to the café and some tea whilst the men were left to argue their differences.

Ten minutes later, a bruised and battered Percy and a hunched-over Henry entered the café.

"_Wha tha blazes ha happene' to yer two?"_ demanded Emily.

"_It w-w-was those two diesels,"_ cried Percy, wiping at his bleeding nose. _"W-w-where have Mavis and Daisy g-g-gone to?"_ he asked.

"_I think I saw them walking towards the platform exit,"_ said Annie.

"_That's right,"_ said Clarabel. _"I think they're going to look around the town._

"_Oh, no!"_ wailed Percy. _"Sir Topham told me to keep everyone here. Now I've gone and lost two more!"_

"_Two more?"_ Henry snuffled, trying to piece together the sheet of paper that Sir Topham had given him, which now, unfortunately, was in eleven pieces. He was suffering from a cut lip and a bruised ego after receiving from BoCo, for the very first time in his existence, first-hand knowledge of what it was like to have someone knee him in his groin. He'd never imagined in his wildest dreams that the green diesel he considered a friend would ever go and do something like _that_ to him! _"Who else have you lost?" _he moaned.

"_Er...earlier this morning, I was standing on the platform w-w-when three men on a p-p-pump trolley zoomed past me, heading away from the station. I knew it was that green bully and his two cronies. I-I-I shouted to them to stop and to come back but HE just stood there glaring and snapping a metal claw at me as they went past. The other two were pumping away like mad and I'd never have caught them up if I ran after them!"_

"_I wonder what trouble he's going to cause now,"_ muttered Henry, giving up on his puzzle and stuffing the torn shreds of paper into a coat pocket.

"_I know I'll be in t-t-trouble when Sir Topham comes back,"_ Percy muttered miserably to him. He'd failed a simple task and, no doubt, he thought to himself, once they'd all returned to their engine forms, he'd be sent to the scrapworks and dismantled for being a useless engine.

"_Yes,"_ agreed Henry. _"He'll probably send us all on a one-way trip to the scrapworks."_

Percy stared at his sad friend for a moment and then started to cry.

ooo

Daisy and Mavis were having a wonderful time in Knapford High Street, curious about the many different and unusual things they'd seen in the shop windows that morning. Their excited chatter had drawn several odd looks from passers-by, whom had assumed that the two rather strikingly-dressed women were merely foreign tourists to the island. At the moment, the two women were looking at the window display of a plumbing supplies shop.

"_Ooh,"_ squealed Daisy, pointing at something on display. _"I wonder what that is for?"_

"_Well,"_ replied Mavis, _"I know that those things by those long pipes over there are water taps, but that, that looks like some sort of bowl for keeping things in."_

"_Maybe, but it looks more like a flower pot to me"_

"_But why would a flowerpot have two lids on it? One of them even has a big round hole in the middle, and why have a brown, wooden lid with a hole in it on top of a big, white flowerpot?"_

"_I suppose you're right, Daisy. Anyway, there's another hole at the back of it, look, see by there..."_

"_Oh, yeah. Ooh, yes! I know what it is! It's for growing potato plants in."_

"_Potato plants?"_

"_Yes. You know when we used to go past farmers' fields and we'd see them digging the plants up out of the ground to get the potatoes from the bottoms?"_

"_Ye-es?"_

"_Well, that hole in the back is where you put your hand in to get the potatoes out without having to dig the plant up!"_

"_Oh, Mavis,"_ said Daisy, adoringly. _"YOU are so clever! I'm really glad I convinced you to come with me rather than sit in that boring café all day back at the station."_

"_I'm glad you asked me, Daisy. There's so much to learn about what people buy in the shops, isn't there?"_

"_Yes, and all those people with colourful clothes on them that were standing very still in the shop windows, they must be very patient. I get fed up when I'm only waiting for a signal to change!"_

"_And tha-"_ but a sudden BEEP-BEEP behind them made them both turn round to see who was honking their horn.

Seeing someone she suddenly recognised, Daisy said, _"Ooh, look, Mavis! It's that nice young man that gave us a lift in his car this morning. Look, he's waving at us."_

"_Hello again, Ladies,"_ Roger called out. _"Busy window shopping, I see!"_

"_Hello, Roger,"_ replied Mavis. _"Well, we can't buy any windows because we don't have any money."_

"_That, Mavis, was very funny!"_ laughed Roger.

"_What was so funny about it?" _she asked, curious.

"_The way y-, ah! I'm sorry, I didn't want to offend you,"_ apologised Roger, realising that, with their unusual skin colour, they were definitely foreigners of some sort and wouldn't necessarily have the same sense of humour as him. _"Well, it's a shame,"_ he sighed, frowning as he tried to think of some way to turn this sudden revelation to his advantage. _"Say, Ladies,"_ he called out, _"I could buy lunch for you both, if you're feeling hungry? I know for a wonderful pub that sells food. I can take you there in my car."_

Daisy and Mavis conferred for a few moments before Mavis gave their reply. _"Why, that would be very kind of you, and I am feeling a bit hungry at the moment. Thank you."_

"_Yes, so am I,"_ agreed Daisy, _"and it would be nice to have a ride in your car again. I don't think all this walking about I've been doing has very good for my swerves, you know!"_

"_Well, let me take care of your swerves for you,"_ smirked Roger. If she could get away with teasing him, he thought, let's see how she likes it!

"_Ooh, that would be great,"_ replied Daisy, eagerly grabbing Mavis' arm. _"Come on,"_ she called to her friend, pulling her away from the shop window, _"and I want to be in the front again!"_

Roger's smirk got bigger as he climbed out and walked round to 'be the gentleman' again. His day was simply getting better and better.

The drive to the 'Three Swans' pub just south of Knapford seemed to be over too quick for Roger. Glancing at Daisy each time she crossed and uncrossed her long legs had almost been too much of a distraction for him, and as he opened her door and leant over her to again undo her 'tricky' seatbelt, he wondered amusedly how further he could have driven without being distracted too much and ending up crashing the car.

Smiling to himself, he opened Mavis' door and, ever being the gentleman, offered his hand to help her get out before casually linking both his arms under theirs and guiding them to the pub's entrance.

"_Now then, Ladies,"_ he said, not without a hint of suggestiveness in his voice, _"let's see what's on the menu for today..."_

ooo

"_What did...you tell...George...to do, Boss?"_ panted Dodge, laboriously. _"He is...after all...only a...steam-roller!"_

"_NEVER YOU MIND THAT, AND KEEP PUMPING! I WANT TO GET BACK SOMETIME TODAY TO SEE WHAT THOSE STINKY STEAMIES ARE UP TO, NOT SPEND ALL DAY TALKING. I'VE GOT MORE PLANS TO MAKE."_

"_What do you...think, Splatter?...Reckon he's...going to...run over all...the steamies?"_

"_Nah!...They'd just...run away...from him...He is...rather slow,...you know!"_

"_Not like...us, though...We've managed...to get up...to twenty...six miles...an hour! _

"_MORE PUMPING YOU TWO, OR I'LL HAVE HIM FLATTEN BOTH OF YOU AS WELL!"_

ooo

The two ladies, Roger was pleased to see, had enjoyed their meals, though they'd initially been confused about how they were supposed to use their knives and forks, which had been quite amusing to watch at the time. He was rather surprised, though, even wondering at one point if they'd spent all their lives just using their fingers to eat. _Maybe they use chopsticks or something, _he wondered, and neither of them had made any effort to take their gloves off, either, which was quite odd! _What's with that_? he puzzled. It had got even funnier still after they'd drank the numerous vodka and cokes and gin and tonics that he'd bought them. It was truly astounding the effect the drinks had had on them, though. It was as though they'd never touched a drop of alcohol in their lives, the way they were reacting to it, and he was beginning to feel a little guilty with what he was doing, but then he recalled the hunting call of his old college group whenever they'd gone on a pub crawl, _'Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained!'_

The things the two women had talked about; well, if he didn't know any better, he'd have sworn that they were from some weird cult or something, like people he'd heard of before that kept themselves away from normal public life and modern things.

"_I'm...I'm gooinng to talks to the shswans in the riber outshide,"_ a rather drunk Mavis mumbled, and abruptly stood up, almost sending her chair backwards into one of the other tables as she twirled around and pointed with an outstretched arm, searching for the pub's back door.

"_W-w-why you wanna do thaaaat?"_ asked an equally inebriated Daisy, almost spilling the remainder of her drink over her empty plate at the same time.

"_We-elllll,"_ said Mavis, rather alarmingly swaying from side to side_, "I cannn talk to bussess an' trainnsss, so I cannnn talks to anythinnngg!"_ she replied, and waddled towards the rear exit that led out to the river bank, swerving about quite dramatically to avoid falling over any tables that were in her way.

Daisy, with wide, staring eyes, watched her friend as she unsuccessfully pulled at the door handle several times to open it before a kind-natured diner got up and put his hand over hers to turn the handle and then push the door open to allow her to get outside.

"_Oo-er! I-I-I don't feeeeeellll so good,"_ complained Daisy, just loud enough for the diners at the next table to look rather disgustedly at her. _"But thish drink is very...verrry nice! I want moooore!"_

_Right,_ thought Roger. _Let's go for it!_

"_It's fresh air you need, not more drink,"_ he said to her, catching her flailing hand with his left and relieving her of her glass with his right and placing it out of her reach on the table. _"Come on, I'll take you for a ride in my car to get some fresh air. That'll make you better!"_

"_Ooh, yesh please, I waaant a ride in your caaar!" _

"_Oh, you'll get a ride all right,"_ said Roger, as he put his arms under hers and helped her to her feet before ushering her out of the front entrance to the pub. He smirked as he mentally chanted his college club's victory call, _'Something Ventured, Something Gained!'_

ooo

The unhappy tru-, er, youth woke up with a sudden cry of alarm. He'd been having the same dream again and again, and was feeling thoroughly miserable. The same scene had played over and over again until that fateful moment and he'd wake up, sweating and sobbing. Why was this happening to him? None of the other trucks ever had dreams like this; trucks NEVER dreamt! He knew that for a fact because he'd asked them before when they were still trucks.

The engines dreamed of things, he knew, because he'd often heard them talking about them whenever they were waiting to be loaded at the docks or the quarries and he was hitched up close to an engine to hear them. Their dreams were either about racing each other to the docks or pulling special coaches filled with important passengers, never like the terrible things that he was seeing in his, and it saddened him even more that he was truly alone in his suffering. He suffered every time he dreamt of the dark tunnel and that little boy, a boy so seemingly familiar to him that, if he could only survive through his dreams long enough, he was sure that he'd be able to remember that boy's name.

ooo

A ten-minute drive along the country road to Dryaw, and Daisy was snoring away in a rather unladylike manner. Two minutes later, Roger slowed down for a sharp bend in the road where it ran parallel to the railway line. Seeing a lay-by opposite the railway embankment, Roger pulled to a gentle stop and switched the engine off. He got out, walked around to the other side and opened the front passenger door_. At least she wasn't sick in my car,_ he thought. _Now for some fun!_

He reached over to unfasten her seatbelt, allowing his hand to brush against one of her legs before taking her hands in his and pulling her up out of the car.

"_Uuh! Whasning em I?"_ mumbled a confused and bewildered Daisy as she woke up.

"_Just helping you to feel better,"_ panted Roger. _God, she weighs a ton!_

After checking for any oncoming traffic, he half-carried, half-dragged Daisy across the road, then up and over the top of the embankment and down the slope towards the grass bank near the railway line.

"_Itsh der trackss,"_ Daisy mumbled.

"_It's all right," _ Roger re-assured her. _"There's no trains today, we're quite safe!"_

He'd heard on the radio that morning that all the trains were cancelled, so he knew there was no likelihood of being disturbed by a passing train. The thought reminded him of her friend's rambling about talking to buses and trains. She must have been on drugs or something, he thought, humorously, which took his mind off what he was doing, and he stumbled under the weight he was holding up. He and Daisy fell to the ground, rolling several feet together down the slope before he could stop their momentum. They stopped rolling with him resting on top of her, and he looked down at her eyes as they half-sleepily fluttered open again.

"_Ooohhh! Wha-wherr amm I?"_ Daisy asked, groggily. _"Woss happninnn?"_

"_What's happening, my dear, is that you're going to give me the ride you promised me!"_

Roger reached towards the buttons of her light-green top as she struggled futilely beneath him. _"Now,"_ he snarled, clamping a hand over her mouth to stifle any screaming she might make, _"Let's see those swerves that you're so proud of!"_

ooOOoo


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 

It was actually the soft fine hairs on the back of Mr. Percival's neck, not the imperceptible increase of air pressure in the room that suddenly alerted him to Sir Topham's arrival by Sparkle from his trip to the quarry.

"_It was wise of you,"_ Sir Topham told Mr. Percival, _"to bring those two here. They've heard it directly from me that their...problem is being given the utmost attention and that we'll be doing whatever it takes to return them to their former selves. They can reassure the others. Now, to the matter in hand. How is she?"_

"_She's stirred a couple of times but gone back to sleep. I think the shock of travelling by sparkle was a bit too much for her."_

"_What can we do with her?"_ Sir Topham asked his friend. _"She's heard some strange things from Toby that, to her, were rather out of the ordinary, and the fact that somebody as highly placed as myself is involved, and now this, well, I think it can only lead to problems. We need some way to control what she says to others. Any ideas?"_

"_Well, there is one way, Sir Topham, if you don't mind my suggesting?"_

ooo

Henry, supping at his cup of hot, black coffee, a drink that he'd taken quite a liking to, was contemplating his situation, and the status of his friendship with Percy. Before today, he'd always considered the little green engine to be quite likeable. He'd liked Percy for his, no, that's wrong, he'd _tolerated_ him for his quirkiness. Sometimes the small engine would be feeling down or unhappy, and other times, he'd be bright and cheery, bringing a freshness to the engines' ordinary but dull routine. Now, though, the short, podgy man's continual whining about the unfairness of it all was really irritating him, and he wasn't sure that he actually _liked_ this version of Percy. That, and the violence exhibited by the former diesels a short while ago had been quite shocking to the laid-back Henry, and he didn't like it. He had to get away from all this noise and fuss and find somewhere peaceful, but where could he go? _Ah, _he thought, remembering his long walk that morning from the engine sheds. _The woods beside the marshalling yards, that's where I'll go!_

"_I'm going outside for some fresh air,"_ he said to no-one in general, and not caring that his departure wasn't even noticed by the former steamies in the café as they tried, unsuccessfully, to soothe the temperamental Percy.

Stepping onto the platform, the tall, green-coated man made his way along to the steps that led down onto the railway tracks, crossing over them until he reached the line that led back to Tidmouth sheds. He ignored the questions from the small group of former coaches that were huddled together on one of the platform benches, and the sneer from his former friend, BoCo as he leant against the wall just outside the traffic office, and started his long trek back, looking forward to the solitude he'd find wandering amongst the peaceful and tranquil trees.

ooo

"_What did...you tell...George...to do...Boss?"_ asked Dodge, pumping up and down in counterpoint to Splatter's pumping down and up on their journey back to Knapford.

"_I told him,"_ smirked Diesel 10, _"to do something that I never got round to doing after that weevil-infested tramcar, Toby, made me bring the roof of that shed down on top of us. Once George has carried out my instructions, there'll be nothing connecting Sodor and Shining Time together anymore. Those stinking steamies will remain as they are forever."_

Diesel 10 was chuffed. It had always bothered him that he'd had to behave himself since returning to Sodor, and now was the right time start getting the things that _he_ wanted to have done.

"_What about...us, Boss?"_ asked Splatter. _"Are we...going to...stay like...this forever...as well?"_

"_That depends on how much peace and quiet I get to work out the rest of my plans,"_ Diesel 10 coldly replied. _"NOW STOP WASTING YOUR BREATH ASKING STUPID QUESTIONS AND GET ON WITH MOVING THIS THING!"_

A short while later as they approached the outskirts of Knapford, Diesel 10 saw something that caused him to frown in puzzlement.

"_SPLODGE, SLOW DOWN A MOMENT,"_ he ordered.

About fifty feet in front of them, he could see two people wrestling together on the grass embankment that sloped down from the roadway above. _What are they doing? _he wondered.

As the pump trolley got nearer to the two people wrestling on the ground, catching Dodge's attention, and then Splatter's when he noticed the other two men looking off at something in the distance, they could see that the two people were, in fact, fighting and, as they got nearer, they could hear one of them, a woman, screaming for help.

"_WHAT'S GOING ON BY THERE?"_ Diesel 10 shouted.

He'd seen men fighting on the odd occasion in the past when he was still an engine and loading sawn-down trees from beside the railway onto a lorry near a field where a summer fete was being held. It was a wrestling competition, he recalled. One of the labourers had told him after he'd asked what they were doing, though he'd never seen a man and woman doing anything similar, and neither one of them had been screaming for help!

The green dressed woman, having heard the shout, turned her head to one side and saw a pump trolley with three men standing on it slow down to a stop only a few yards away from where she was having the fight with Roger.

"_He-elp me, ple-ease!" _she tearfully shouted. _"He's attacking me!"_

Roger, seeing that something had caught Daisy's eye and hearing her shout to somebody, glanced back over his shoulder and saw three men on some sort of railway contraption. _"Shit,"_ he cursed, and started panicking. _I'd better get out of here pretty quick! _

He released his hold on Daisy and made to stand up, but she was gripping tightly to his hair with one hand and his light jacket with the other, and just wouldn't let go, so he slapped her across her face to give her something to think about and was quite relieved when she released her hold on him in shock. Quickly, he scrambled to his feet and started to run up the bank and to the safety of his car for a quick getaway.

Diesel 10, by now, had jumped down off the pump trolley and was making his way the final few feet towards the two wrestlers when he saw the man strike the woman's face, get up, and start running up the slope. He looked back down to the green-dressed woman and felt there was something very familiar about her. Then it struck him; it was Daisy, the rather stubborn green railcar. She was one of his colleagues, had obviously been transformed just like the others, and she in trouble! Trouble that was being caused by the man that was right now trying to get away! He looked up to where the man now was and ran up the grass bank after him. After a few seconds, his strong legs had enabled him to catch up with the running man just enough for him to grab hold of his jacket and pull him backwards.

Roger heard the sound of heavy feet pounding into the ground behind him, and they were getting nearer, then he suddenly felt himself being tugged backwards and he fell onto his side before being rolled onto his back. Looking up, he saw a tall, angry-looking man with grey, short-cropped hair bending over him, and what he thought was an artificial metal hand reaching towards his throat. He rose his arms up to fend the tall man's false hand away but it was too late. The next thing he knew was that he was being raised up off his back, _off his feet, even,_ and held up a foot or so above the ground. He grabbed at the man's false hand, trying to break free from the tight grip around his throat before he choked, feeling the coldness of the prosthetic hand's metal prongs under his jaw. Gasping for air, he looked down at the man's face and saw two dark, staring eyes looking straight back up at him.

"_ . .You' . ?"_ snarled the tall man.

Much to his surprise and, despite the terror flowing through him, Roger found that he could actually still manage to breathe, though it felt, at the same time, as though his body was just about to drop off from below his head as he hung there. The curved shape of the hand's metal prongs were such that they were actually using the lowest parts of his jaw and chin to suspend him, and there was just enough gap left for his windpipe not to be crushed, but, no matter how much he tugged at the hand's false fingers, he just couldn't budge them.

"_Garghhh...she...she wanted it,"_ he grunted.

"_She wanted you to HURT her?"_ asked a disbelieving Diesel 10, having seen the man strike Daisy's face. _" ' .So!"_ he growled.

Whilst the green former railcar had certain disagreements with some of the other engines, she was at most, he thought, just a stubborn and self-centered engine that wouldn't roll over an ant. He couldn't imagine her doing anything that would be in any way threatening to anyone, indeed, he'd laughed all day when she'd first arrived on the island and he'd heard that she couldn't even say 'Boo' to a bull that was standing on the track in her way. Anger and rage suddenly rose up inside Diesel 10 at the thought of someone hurting one of his diesels, and he was just moments away from tightening his grip around the man's throat when he felt something stopping him. It wasn't anything physical, though, more like a memory, a man's voice laying down a set of rules that he would have to abide by no matter what, and it was one of those rules that stopped him from deliberately taking the struggling man's life away from him.

Instead, Diesel 10 twisted round and used the momentum of his turn to drop Daisy's attacker to the ground and forcing his legs to buckle, which make him roll down the rest of the slope until finally stopping on the stone ballast beside the track, gagging and retching as he nursed his aching jaw and throat.

Diesel 10 looked over to Daisy and asked, just loud enough for her to hear him, _"Why was he fighting you?"_

"_He...he said he w-w-wanted to see my s-s-swerves!"_ Daisy tearfully replied.

Diesel 10 walked down to where the man was laying on his back and knelt down beside him. He opened the prongs of his right hand and held the foremost prong am inch over the injured man's left eye.

Roger, fearful for what the man was intending to do, cried out, _"NO! NO! PLEASE! NOT MY EYE! I'LL DO ANYTHING YOU ASK!"_

Diesel 10 bared his teeth in a snarl and withdrew his metal hand. He reached with his claw to one of the frightened man's hands instead, and clasped it tightly between the prongs and pulled it away from the man's throat. He then quickly bent it forward, breaking the man's wrist with an audible snap that was loud enough for Dodge, Splatter and even the now quietly-crying Daisy to hear.

"_YOU'RE NOT GOING TO TOUCH MY DAISY AGAIN!"_ he roared, loud enough to overpower the sound of the man's agonised scream.

Turning his head to look at his minions, Diesel 10 ordered, _"Put her on the trolley. We'll return her back to Knapford and take her to Sir Topham. I don't think he'll be happy when we tell him what this man was doing to her!"_

"_Right away, Boss,"_ said Dodge, jumping off the pump trolley and briskly walking over to where Daisy was sitting, resting her head between her hands and sniffling back her runny nose in between sobs.

"_We'll get her back as fast as we can, Boss,"_ added Splatter, as he, too, jumped off the trolley to assist Daisy.

Turning back to look at Daisy's attacker, Diesel 10 noticed something shiny on the ground beside him.

"_Hmm! What's this?"_ he asked, picking it up with his left hand and studying it. After a moment he nodded to himself, recognising it for what it was, after all, the engine drivers sometimes used one of these if they wanted to override the diesels' free will_. "A key, eh? The key for your car, maybe?"_ he asked Roger, who was now nursing his broken hand and whimpering.

Roger nodded, and watched through tear-filled eyes as Daisy's rescuer placed the key between the edges of the metal prongs on his artificial hand and effortlessly snapped it like a guillotine or metal shears would do.

"_I think,"_ he then heard the green-suited man say, _"that you won't be driving home today!"_

Diesel 10 stood up and walked back to the pump trolley. Daisy had been helped onto it and was now sitting at the rear end with her legs hanging down over the edge. He pushed the trolley for a few yards to gain some speed and quickly climbed up, stepping behind Dodge so that he could sit down beside the now, very quiet, Daisy.

"_SPLODGE, GET PUMPING!"_ he ordered.

"_Right away, Boss,"_ the two former shunting diesels acknowledged.

Diesel 10 then looked sideways at Daisy, and gently asked her, _"What was all that about?"_

Daisy turned her tear-streaked face to him and replied, _"I-I-I hate them!"_

"_Hate who?"_

"_P-p-people!"_

After a moment's pause, Diesel 10 said, _"They're not all like that. Most of them are decent."_

"_I-I don't care. He...he was very f-f-friendly at first,"_ stammered Daisy, wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand, smearing her eye-shadow and mascara even more. _"He...he even g-g-gave Emily, Mavis and me a lift to the s-s-station in his c-c-car this m-m-morning."_

"_How did you end up all the way out here if you were at the station?"_

"_I d-d-didn't want to stay there after the other engines s-s-started fighting on the p-p-platform. M-m-me and Mavis d-d-decided to g-go into the t-t-town to look at the sh-sh-shops. R-r-Roger, that's his n-n-name, he saw us there and offered to b-b-buy us food in a pub." _

Daisy then went silent, trying to recall all that had gone on that morning; wondering what she'd possibly done to upset Roger.

"_And, then what?"_

"_After...after we'd f-f-finished eating, both m-m-me and Mavis, we started acting s-s-strange. Mavis wanted to go and t-t-talk to the swans in the river outside, and I f-f-felt as though my insides w-w-wanted to come out of my mouth. I n-n-never want t-t-to feel anything like that ever ag-g-gain!"_

"_Maybe it was something you ate?"_ suggested Diesel 10.

"_I d-don't think so. Roger, h-h-he had the s-s-same to eat as us."_

"_Did you drink anything strange, then? You know how dirty fuel or oil can affect us."_

"_I don't know! We d-drank the same thing Roger was d-d-drinking. We saw him p-p-pour his drink from a red and white can. It was the same colour as our drinks."_

"_Maybe the two of you ate something that doesn't agree with our new forms,"_ said Diesel 10. _"We don't know for sure how these new bodies we're in are going to affect us in the long term. The longer we are like this, the worse it could get."_

"_I didn't feel ill after eating the food in the station café this morning,"_ protested Daisy, finally beginning to regain her composure. _"Nor after drinking the orange juice. All that did was to make my face want to curl up!"_

Diesel 10 chuckled at her comment, and realised at the same time that he himself hadn't eaten anything yet. It would be, he thought, an interesting experience, especially if there were any steamies in the station café at the same time he was there. He'd seen that little green pipsqueak, Percy, when they'd gone through the station earlier that day, and no doubt he'd start kicking up a fuss about one thing or another. He waited silently for a minute before speaking again.

"_How are you feeling now?"_

"_A bit better. I'm really glad you were passing. I'm beginning to realise now that I was actually stronger than him, but it all happened so suddenly, and I was feeling quite dizzy and sick when he attacked me that I didn't know what was happening at first. I'd have been able to stop him otherwise. I still feel a bit...uncomfortable after all that rolling around on the ground, though. It's probably ruined my swerves. I'll never be the same again!" _

"_Once I've found a way to get us back to normal again, the fitters will be able to make sure you're as good as new,"_ comforted Diesel 10, patting her left leg reassuringly.

"_I really hope so, I'm highly strung, you know!"_

Diesel 10 studied Daisy. _She's definitely feeling more herself now, _he thought. _Maybe she could be useful to me!_

"_If you have any more problems,"_ he said to her, _"I hope you let me know. Especially if those problems are former steamies."_

"_I will,"_ replied Daisy, catching Diesel 10's eyes. The large man, she thought, was so tall and impressive when he'd lifted her attacker up and dealt with him like an avenging guardian. He had always seemed so stern and frightening to her before that morning, and she smiled nervously back at him. _"Th-thank you for helping me, Diesel Ten. I-I-I don't know how to repay you." _

"_Don't mention it. I'd do the same for any of us,"_ she heard her rescuer say.

"_You're so considerate, so protective...I-I don't know why the steamies say such bad things about you."_

"_Really?"_ inquired Diesel 10, the tone of his voice suggesting that this was something completely unexpected and new to him. _"Well, if that's the case,"_ he said,_ "maybe there IS something you could do for me after all."_

"_Of course! Anything!"_

"_Well, you already know how much the steamies always say they're better than us diesels, I think...yes, I think that while we are in this...unfortunate predicament, we diesels need to look out for each other. I wouldn't put it past them stinkies to be already planning something bad for us. If only...no, I couldn't ask that of you, it's too much!"_

"_What? What is it?"_ asked Daisy, imploringly. _"I...I really want to show you how much I appreciate you saving me!"_

"_I was thinking, if...if only there was some way that I could know what those steamies were saying to each other,"_ said Diesel 10, staring back in the direction they'd come from and talking as though he were speaking his thoughts out loud. _"It would certainly help me to make sure we all remain safe. I mean, if they were to find themselves in a bit of a problem, I suppose I could do something about it."_

He turned his head to again look at the woman sitting next to him. _"Daisy, when we get back to Knapford, would...would you be willing to listen out for what the steamies are saying to each other, and to tell me if you hear anything out of the ordinary?"_

Daisy suddenly felt the inside of her chest getting too tight for her to breathe. The big, strong Diesel 10 was actually asking _her_ to help him look out for their safety? Well, she would definitely help him, she told herself. It was only fair, and she knew all too well the scrapes that the steamies got themselves into.

"_Yes, yes of course I will. You can rely on me!"_ she said, and leant towards him, wrapping her arms tightly around his chest before planting a wet, lip-sticky kiss on his right cheek. _"You're my hero!"_ she told him as she pulled away and sat up with her head proudly held high.

Diesel 10 smiled, pleased that he'd converted one more volunteer to his cause. _Now,_ he pondered, _What was it that stopped me from destroying that man?_

ooo

Jeanie's eyes flickered open, then the sudden realisation of her abrupt arrival in a stately home somewhere made her open them even wider in remembered surprise and she tried to stand up.

"_Whoa, easy there, Miss Watkins,"_ she heard a man's voice say.

"_Where...where am I? What have you done to me?"_ she asked, groggily.

"_You fainted," _ she heard a man reply. _"We carried you to a sofa for you to lie down on. Take it slowly as you get up in case you feel dizzy and fall."_

Jeanie pulled herself up into a sitting position and stared hard at the man that had been the cause of her morning's trouble.

"_You...Sir Topham...what...what was that? What happened to me, and who's he?"_ she asked, nodding her head towards Mr. Percival. _"Are you going to let me go, or do I start screaming until someone comes here?"_

"_Let me order some tea, and then I'll explain,"_ said Sir Topham, walking over to his study desk and picking up a phone's receiver.

Jeanie watched as the stout, well-dressed man asked someone to send an extra cup with his lunch.

"_Whilst we're waiting,"_ he said, walking back towards her and sitting down on a rather hard-looking, table chair, _"I'll tell you something that will sound too fantastic to believe, but please, Miss Watkins, listen to me first before you ask any questions, yes? First, though, may I call you Jeanie, Miss Watkins?"_

"_Y-yes, I suppose so," _Jeanie replied.

"_Well, then, Jeanie,"_ Sir Topham continued. _"As I was just saying, what I'm about to tell you may sound so unbelievable that you'll probably think I'm totally mad, but it is the truth. There is a slight problem, though."_

"_What sort of problem? What's it got to do with me? Why can't you just tell me the truth?"_

"_Oh, but I can, but because of confidentiality reasons, I can only tell certain people. Tell me, Jeanie, if you don't mind, but...are you employed at the moment?"_

"_No...no, I'm not, but what's that got to do with all this? First, you kidnap me, and then you want to know if I work? Are you mad, Sir Topham, because you sure do sound it?"_

"_Jeanie...Miss Watkins, I'm willing to offer you an opportunity of a lifetime. The reason I have to go about it this way, not that I've kidnapped you or anything like that, but if you were an employee of myself or the Sodor Railway Company, the confidentiality clause in your contract of employment would then allow me to tell you what is happening here. What do you have to say to that?"_

"_WHAT? I DON'T BELIEVE THIS,"_ shouted Jeanie. _"YOU'LL TELL ME WHAT'S HAPPENED TO ME ONLY IF I WORK FOR YOU? Right, I'm phoning the police,"_ she then said, raising to her feet and walking to the desk.

"_MISS WATKINS...JEANIE!"_ Sir Topham called after her. _"Please, hear me out first, then, if you wish, you can walk out of here. I'm not stopping you from leaving, indeed, I'll even pay for a taxi to take you back to the hospital for you to get your car."_

Jeanie stopped at the edge of the desk and turned back to look out of one of the room's windows, then back at Sir Topham. _"Where are we? What is this place? I know we're not in St. Tibba's or anywhere near the hospital, so where are we?"_

She'd driven past Wellsworth enough times in the past to have a good knowledge of the surrounding countryside, and this place certainly looked to be somewhere nowhere near there.

"_We're...quite a few miles from there, actually,"_ replied Sir Topham. _"That's why you'd need a taxi to get back to the hospital. Please, would you allow me the courtesy to continue with what I have to say to you?"_

Jeanie hesitated. This was all so unreal. It was, to her, like something out of a TV drama and she had no idea of the plot or storyline. Just what did this man have to say that was so secret? The offer of a job was certainly out of the blue. What was _that_ all about, and the confidentiality clause he'd mentioned?

"_What's this job thing you're on about?"_ she asked.

"_Please, Miss Watkins, would you sit down while I explain?"_

Jeanie walked slowly back to the sofa where she'd been laying, and sat down, slightly apprehensive lest she be attacked by either of the two men. She lightly clenched her fists, deciding that if either of them made a move towards her, they were going to get it right where it hurts! She eyed the open door that led from the study they were in into some sort of hallway, and reckoned she could be out of the room before either of the men could grab her, leaving her only to find her way to an exit and safety, wherever they were on Sodor!

Her plan of escape was derailed by the sound of something being wheeled towards the room they were in. Tensing her muscles in nervous anticipation as her breathing rate increased with fear, she was rather taken aback when, all of a sudden, a butler, of all people, pushed a trolley carrying some plates of sliced meats, bread, and a tea set walked into the room.

"_Your lunch, Sir Topham,"_ the man said. _"Where would you like it?"_

"_Oh, just by here, Collins, thank you,"_ replied Sir Topham.

Jeanie's eyes flicked back and forth, watching in case of any sudden movement, relaxing only slightly when Sir Topham started to prepare three cups of tea.

"_Milk, sugar?"_ he politely asked her.

"_Um, one sugar, just a drop of milk,"_ she replied, carefully watching his hands to make sure that he didn't slip anything else into her cup as well. She watched as he prepared his own and then the other man's cup from the same sugar bowl and milk jug before finally pouring tea into them from a silver teapot.

Accepting her cup from him after he'd stirred it, she sat back, thinking that the hot tea would be another weapon she could use to fight against any attack on her.

"_Right,"_ said Sir Topham. _"To cut a long story short, if you accept my job offer, I can explain everything you need to know. If you then don't want to work for either myself or the Railway Company, you can give me immediate notice in writing and you'll immediately be free to leave, no strings attached, well, except for the confidentiality clause which, I'm sure you're aware, is something that other companies have in their employment contracts as well."_

"_Yes,"_ she said. _"I have heard of them. What sort of job is it? You said work for yourself or the Railway Company. Do I get a choice?"_

"_Of course. If you worked for me, it would be as a...what do you call it...personal assistant, I suppose, though I think, for you, you may well prefer to work for the Company instead. Your job would be, well, at the moment, dealing with personnel. I have some new...employees that need to be acclimatised to life on Sodor. After that, I'm pretty sure there'd be somewhere in the Company that would suit you or be more to your taste." _

"_First, tell me where I am,"_ she asked.

"_You're at Hatt Hall, my home. It's...quite a distance from St. Tibba's."_

This was unbelievable. Jeanie looked around the room, trying to find any hidden cameras or anywhere where someone with a microphone might step out from. There had to be some way she could test these people to see if they were genuine or not, she wondered.

"_Do I have to accept this offer now," _she asked Sir Topham, _ "or can I think about it for a day or two? I'm asking you that because I wouldn't want to sign anything before a lawyer had a chance to examine it."_ It was a bluff on her part, of course, because there was no way she could afford a lawyer or solicitor to check it. She might know of one or two of her friends from college that had studied law, but that was about the extent for her abilities right then.

"_A day or two could be too late for the...people involved,"_ said Sir Topham.

Jeanie wasn't greatly surprised when hearing that. _Yep,_ she thought._ This is definitely a set up, but where are the bloody cameras?_

"_Look,"_ said Sir Topham,_ "I can do this for you; there's only the one form that you'd have to sign. You can read it right now, sign it and straight away after give me your written notice. You can even write out your notice first if you want. I'm not trying to catch you out here, Jeanie, or you read it, then rip up the form and walk out the front doors of the Hall and that'll be the end of the matter, but that'll mean that I don't have to tell you what you want to know, and what you're so curious about. As I said, I'll even arrange and pay for a taxi to take you back to the hospital for you to get your car._

"_Alternatively, you can read and sign the form, I tell you what you want to know and after we've talked, you can, should you have the inclination, take the form to a lawyer to be checked for it's legality and then return it to me afterwards. Until then, you'd be in possession on the only proof that you've signed anything at all. You'd be free to burn it, if you wished to do that, destroying any evidence, so to speak, but you'll find that what I will be telling you to be so fascinating that you'll not ever wish to leave the job. It's up to you, Jeanie, you have free will to act as you so desire. The door to my study is still open; you can simply get up and leave right now without having to listen to anything I have to say."_ Sir Topham was hoping that she'd not do that, of course, as he needed her to sign the employment contract to stop her from revealing anything about the magic railways.

"_Can I phone a friend?"_ Jeanie asked him.

"_By all means,"_ Sir Topham replied, gesturing towards his desk. _"There's the phone, help yourself."_

Jeanie got up off the sofa and again walked over to the study desk. She picked up the receiver and heard the dialling tone. _At least THAT offer was genuine,_ she thought. Then, instead of phoning her sister to contact the police, she turned back towards the two men and said, _"Sir Topham, you agree that after I sign this 'form', I get to keep it and have it checked by a lawyer afterwards?"_

"_Yes, I agree,"_ said Sir Topham, reaching inside his black jacket and withdrawing a folded sheet of paper. He held it out to her and said, _"Here it is. Take it if you wish."_

"_Okay,"_ Jeanie said, putting the receiver back down. _"I'll accept your second offer."_

Sir Topham smiled, _That's one less problem to deal with! _

"_And you confirm that, after signing it,"_ she added, _"I can leave here straight away and destroy it and I won't be held responsible for anything in any way at all."_

"_Should you wish to do that, of course you can, and then you'll only be responsible for your own actions. I will have no control over you in any way, neither now nor any time in the future."_ Sir Topham made a couple of motions over his chest with his finger and added, grinning, _"Cross my heart and hope to die!"_

It all sounded too good to be true, and she just couldn't see any catch in it at all. She even had Sir Topham's agreement that she could refuse the job afterwards without any complications. She was only contemplating accepting his job offer as she was rather curious as to why a man of his standing would be involved with people that spoke of 'talking trains', and not only that, she wanted to know how on earth she could be taken from one place to another so suddenly when she _knew_ nobody else was involved to drug her or something. She just couldn't think of any way for it to have happened at all.

"_And I can back out at any time?"_.

"_Of course, as long as I have written notice from you offering your resignation. We have to keep everything above board and legal, you understand."_

Jeanie was happy to hear that, though it could all be a big bluff. She'd see what he had to say and take it from there. If it turned out to be genuine, she could always phone Gemma afterwards and tell her to delay their shopping trip until when she got her first pay cheque, talking of phoning, _"If I don't phone anyone now, can I phone them afterwards?"_

"_Yes, of course! Offering you a job, I am, not arresting you!"_

The two of them laughed at that for a moment, as well as the man that Jeanie didn't know, then she said, _"First, tell me more about the job, the railway job, that is, and what are the pay and conditions?"_

"_Well,"_ said Sir Topham,_ "should you sign the form, you'll be my...let's agree on personal assistant to start off with until you become more knowledgeable of railway procedures, you know, admin and paperwork and all that. It'll be a part-time position to start with, for suitability reasons, you understand, though you'll be shown what to do. From what I've seen of you so far, I believe you'd pick it up in no time. After that, we'll see what part of the business you feel an attraction for. You could end up working anywhere on the island. How do you feel about that?"_

"_What about travel? How would I get there? The car I've got isn't all that reliable."_

"_Well, you'd have free rail travel on Sodor, of course, access to Company vehicles, so I guess that shouldn't be a problem for you."_ Sir Topham was quite relieved. She had finally calmed down and beginning to accept what he was telling her, well, the easy bit, that is. The hardest part was yet to come, and the last thing he wanted was to attract undue attention from outside authorities right now. After all this is over, he thought, it doesn't matter. People will be grateful to just have the trains running again.

"_What about pay and holidays?"_

"_After the first year, holidays will be five weeks annual leave after your first six months of employment if you become full-time, three weeks if you decide to stay part-time. As for salary, how does seventeen thousand per annum Pro rata sound to you?"_

"_Pounds?"_ "_But of course!"_ "_What about if I fall ill?"_

"_Statutory Sick Pay as per the national rate."_

"_When would I have to start?"_

"_You can start today, tomorrow, next week, even, but I'd really appreciate an immediate start, though you won't actually earn anything until you do start."_

"_There's no obligation even if I read the form and then refuse the job?"_

"_No obligation, as long as I have your written notice. As I said, you'll then be free to leave."_

Jeanie thought that she'd covered everything she could think of and that there weren't any obvious catches, and yeah, she knew of confidentiality clauses. Well, she could live with that, she thought.

"_I'll accept the job offer,"_ she said to Sir Topham,_ "but I want to read that form first."_

Jeanie couldn't believe that after all that fuss she'd made, the employment contract couldn't have been more basic. All it had said was that the signatory promised not to reveal any confidential information or Company Matters passed on to him/her by any means that related to Sodor Railways.

"_Can I borrow a pen, please?"_ she asked Sir Topham.

Jeanie placed the pen's nib above the dotted line where she was to sign her name but paused for a moment to look around one last time for hidden cameras. It was like something she'd seen in an episode of 'You've Been Framed' where they'd used a corridor next to a broken lift to convince their victims that they'd gone up or down to another floor by shaking the lift structure to make it seem that it was working. The lift's occupant would exit the lift and walk onto what they assumed to be their floor, but was in fact the original floor on which some stage-hands had swapped and moved a few objects around, also putting a fake floor-sign up on the wall next to the lift's entrance. She'd laughed when the victim had scratched his or her head in puzzlement, not realising that it was all just a hoax. Was _she_ herself a victim of a similar type of hoax?

She recalled Burnett Stone's injuries. They were real injuries, not faked like on the hospital dramas she sometimes watched on telly. What was it that happened to her when she touched Sir Topham's elbow?_ If that's even his real name,_ she though to herself. How could she account for that? There was no-one else anywhere near to have drugged her, she already knew, and TV producers would surely not _dare_ do anything like that for fear of being sued for millions if something went wrong or something. Supposing they did inject her and she'd died because she was allergic to the drug! No, she couldn't have been drugged, but how did she end up here so quickly? Was this a specially set-up room inside the hospital with fake scenery outside? She glanced across to a pair of glass doors that led out to a balcony terrace. No, it wasn't fake scenery, she decided, seeing some birds fly over the trees in the distance.

She signed her name to the contract and, slightly disappointed that nobody actually jumped out from behind a curtain with a microphone or a camera slung over their shoulder, said, _"Right, I've a few question I need answering. What's all this about? Who are you really? Where am I, and how did I get here? You have no right to hold me here against my will!"_

"_First,"_ said Sir Topham, _"let's have some lunch. You must be hungry after your busy morning! Jeanie. Please, Peregrine, Jeanie, help yourselves!"_

After eating some very succulent slices of beef and lamb, Sir Topham said,_ "Right, down to business, then."_ He got up from his chair and walked over to close the study's entrance doors.

As he returned to his seat and settled himself in, Jeanie said, _"What about my questions?"_

"_I'll get to them, all will be explained in due course, but first, anything that I may tell you or you find out by any other means regarding talking trains is confidential information and comes under Company Matters that relate to Sodor Railways, and as for what your job involves, as I said earlier, you'll be helping...certain employees to get used to their...new surroundings." _

"_Are they new here as well?" _she asked.

"_In a sense, but what I-"_ but before he could tell her any more about the trains being alive and sentient, Jeanie started to feel a sudden light-headedness, and bent over to rest her head in her hands.

"_I'm...I'm feeling dizzy! W-w-what have you d-d-done to me?"_ she asked._ "You drugged my food, you bastards!"_

"_It's the magic of the railways starting to work on you,"_ she heard Sir Topham say.

"_Magic? What sort of madman are you?"_ she demanded. She tried to stand up but fell back to her seat and started to panic.

"_It's the magic of the railways,"_ Sir Topham repeated. _"You'll be finding what I say at first to be quite unbelievable, but the more I tell you, the more you'll become fascinated by the magic and accepting to it all. There's no need for you to worry, Jeanie, you haven't been drugged or anything. It's just your reaction to the magic beginning to work in you, and I forgive you for the insult. It was a reasonable response on your part."_

"_I-I I can't understand how you, a man with a Knighthood, can believe all this magic stuff"_ Jeanie said, shaking her head. _"Let me out of here right now or I'll call the p-p-police!"_

"_No, there's no need for that,"_ said Sir Topham. _"And I'm not a knight, by the way. My grandfather was awarded a baronetcy for services rendered to the railways here on Sodor back in the early twentieth century. Being a hereditary title, it succeeded on to his son, my father, when he died, and then it was passed on to me in turn when HE died, and it'll be passed on to my son when I die, when he'll become 'Sir Topham Hatt' and Controller of Sodor Railways."_

"_What about those other two people in the hospital, Toby and Henrietta? You and they were talking about engines changing...changing into what? Oh, no! No...just no! You're all raving mad! This...this is unbelievable!" _

The next half hour as Sir Topham explained to her about the sentient trains went very quickly for Jeanie. It was a half hour of wildly conflicting beliefs and ideas battling for dominance in her mind. At first, being unable to stand up and actually do anything to get away from the madman, she'd allowed herself to just listen to the his ravings, give him the 'notice' he needed for her to quit the 'job offer', and then get out of there as fast as she could. He didn't seem violent, which was a relief, but just as delusional as the elderly Toby was, but the more he went on and she mentally challenged whatever he was saying, she noticed that she hadn't really been paying all that attention to what he was actually saying to her. She'd just let him talk on and on about the 'magic railways 'and how the trains all worked together to ensure that they completed their tasks and carried their passengers to their destinations, and that although some of them _did_ have problems with some of the other engines, they did, in the end, knuckle down to be useful and get on with their work, and that, whilst it all seemed so bonkers to believe that she'd questioned and doubted what Sir Topham, Toby and Henrietta had told her, she noticed that a part of her mind that she hadn't really been paying all that attention to was suggesting that what she was hearing was in fact the truth, _Is that a woman's voice I can hear? _and that she should be like the engines and accept that Sir Topham Hatt really knew what was best for them all and then she could be really useful as well. Jeanie decided that she was just being silly, of course Sir Topham knew what was best; he was, after all, her employer and the owner of the magic railways on Sodor. _How could I doubt him,_ Jeanie wondered. _I can't understand why I ever thou-_

"_... you think, Jeanie?"_

"_Um, I'm sorry, Sir Topham. Could you repeat that, please?"_ Jeanie asked. _Damn! How could I have allowed myself to daydream like that and not listen to what he was saying to me?_

"_I said, 'Now that you've heard my explanation, what do you think, Jeanie?'."_

Sir Topham really regretted that it had to come to this. The young woman had set out this morning on whatever business she'd intended and found herself getting involved in something that had nothing to do with her whatsoever. It was a shame that the only way to maintain any secrecy regarding the 'magical' qualities of the railways was by entrapping her in the way he had, but, he consoled himself, if things went pear-shaped with her, he always had the option of firing her, which would result in her not being able to reveal the secret of the talking trains having signed the ever-so-simple but all-encompassing contract.

"_I think...I think the sooner I can start, the better," _she replied._ "I...I was just thinking that...that they're going to find it so strange getting used to having to do things for themselves that you could do with all the help you can get. It's just...getting used to all this...I...I thought at first that it was preposterous. I mean, the whole idea of talking trains, it's...it's like I've been in some kind of dream, but I'm awake at the same time. I...I'm sorry, Sir Topham. I can't really explain it."_

"_It's the magic beginning to work on you, Jeanie," _Sir Topham said to her, kindly._ "Welcome to the Island of Sodor's magic railway! It seems you're going to live up to your name," _he added.

"_What...what do you mean?"_ Jeanie asked, confused.

_"J-e-a-n-i-e...G-e-n-i-e_?" replied Sir Topham, smiling at her._ "Magic of the railways_?" he hinted, raising one eyebrow questioningly at her.

_"Ha!" _Jeanie scornfully laughed._ "No way! You're kidding me, right? Right?"_

Sir Topham glanced over to Mr. Percival and said,_ "Now, my friend, now we can open the box and find out what Lady is trying to tell us."_

ooo

Diesel 10 was beginning to question what he'd thought was his own mind. For the last quarter hour or so, despite Daisy's incessant and inane chatter, he'd let the motion of the pump trolley lull him into a state of relaxation, much as he'd done before when journeying for long distances on the railway when he was still an engine. Now, he was able to recall memories that he'd long since forgotten, memories of his very first days when he realised just what he was; an engine with a mechanical arm on his roof that he could use to lift things off the ground. He was an adaptation of a Class 42 locomotive, big and strong, fit and fearsome, with a man's voice in his head, laying down a set of rules that he was compelled to abide to. He was to serve, he was to obey, and he wasn't to harm.

Somewhere inside him, he was aware of the rightness of those instructions, but, sometime, somehow, they'd lost their full hold on him, as demonstrated by what he'd done to the man that attacked Daisy. He knew it wasn't whatever it was that had happened to the engines the previous night when they'd all transformed into humans. No, it was a long, long time before that, as evidenced by his willingness to kill that magical midget, Mr. Conductor. No, something had changed him, something he just couldn't quite put his finger, er, prong on right then.

"_I said, what are you thinking about?"_ he heard Daisy say to him, as she finally managed to attract his attention.

"_I was just day-dreaming,"_ he quietly replied. _"Nothing special."_

"_Talking of dreams,"_ she said back to him, _"last night, I had a very strange dream. I dreamt I was dancing or something in front of a lot of people inside a big building, and they were all applauding and cheering at me. Then the room I was in was upside down and...and I was falling down a big hole with lots of lights flashing past me. I seemed to fall forever and ever until I landed on the ground with a big bump and then...then I was rolling along a railway track, only...only I had my wheels and...and my swerves were different!"_

She's obviously remembering her own creation, thought Diesel 10, thinking back to his own wakening into a new form, noting that the description of falling and lights was very similar to his own, except for the dancing bit and, looking across to the woman, he saw a tear slowly trickling down her cheek, leaving another track to her already-ruined make-up. He saw her choke back a sob as more silent tears started falling down her cheek. _Oh, no_, he thought, grimacing. _Here we go again!_

ooOOoo


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 

"_My father left me these keys in his will,"_ said Sir Topham, re-buttoning the top of his shirt and straightening his tie. _"Due to their importance, I've always felt the safest place for them was around my neck."_

Jeanie watched Sir Topham Hatt use one of the keys to unlock and open a large trunk that she'd noticed was tucked away in a corner of the study, and after clearing some space on his desk, Sir Topham then called Mr. Percival over to him and, together, the two men lifted out a brown, wooden chest that was about twice the size of a shoe-box, and carefully place it on the cleared space. It looked quite old and battered. _It's just like what you see in a pirates film,_ she thought. She could only see the back of it and what looked like two hinges near the top. Sir Topham then used the second key to unlock and open it, revealing to the light what his father had put away for him many years ago.

Mr. Percival, she'd been told, was the manager of one of the quarries on Sodor, a quarry with its own magical engines that ran on narrow-gauge tracks. The two other strangers she'd see when she'd arrived unexpectedly at Hatt Hall were apparently two of those engines. She wondered why they were shorter than normal-sized men, only coming up to the quarry manager's shoulders in height, then, realising that she'd missed hearing what her new employer was saying, she shook her head to refocus her self and listened to the rest of his words.

"_He never told me what was in this smaller trunk because he didn't know himself. This key had been left to him by his father, my grandfather, and the only thing he'd said about it was that the bearer of the keys would know when they were to be used. Obviously, Lady somehow knew about this box as she'd instructed Burnett to tell me that I had to open it."_

Burnett, Jeanie already knew, was Lady's engineer and driver at Shining Time, a small town somewhere in America where Lady lived and worked. He'd come all the way to Sodor by means of a magic railway that linked Shining Time with Sodor by using a magic whistle, the same whistle that had brought her to Hatt Hall when she'd touched Sir Topham as he was using it. _That...that's...fantastic!_ she thought, remembering the brief demonstration that Sir Topham and Mr. Percival had given her when they'd disappeared together from right in front of her. She had no idea of where they'd vanished to until a hand suddenly tapped her shoulder, causing her to scream in fright as she spun round to see two grinning men that had reappeared behind her, finally making her accept that the whistle was indeed 'magical'. Her musing was interrupted by Sir Topham saying, _"Let's see what we've got in here... _"

Inside the box were a pile of folders containing various sheets of paper, a couple of reels of ancient 35mm cine film, some equally old photographs bound together by a ribbon, and a small leather pouch. At the bottom of the box was another bulky, sealed envelope that Sir Topham placed to one side, breaking the seal and withdraw what looked to be an old scroll and another, smaller envelope. He unrolled the scroll and scanned his eyes down its contents. Frowning, he opened the smaller envelope and took out a letter. Remaining silent as he read it, shaking his head slowly from side to side, Jeanie and Mr. Percival looked on, wondering what was so serious that caused him to react like that.

Sir Topham then looked over to his audience and said, _"First, though, I'll get Collins to bring some more tea for us and to get my father's old projector out from storage."_

Whilst they were waiting for the tea and projector, Sir Topham checked through the photographs and pulled some of them out, putting them by the front edge of his desk_. "Take a look at these, you two,"_ he said,placing the remaining photos beside the wooden trunk_ "They're some old photographs of the steam engines they had in the olden days."_ Mr. Percival picked them up and stared scanning through them, occasionally making a comment on how he'd seen one or two of the old engines during his time on the railways. The ones he'd looked at he passed on to Jeanie, telling her the odd fact or two regarding their history as he did so. Jeanie thought some of them looked quite primitive compared to the trains she was used to seeing, and that was including the steam engines she'd seen working on Sodor. Whilst they were occupied with the photographs, Sir Topham spent the next ten minutes skimming through some of the notes in the folders.

"_Briefly,"_ he said, putting down the folder he was holding,_ "when steam engines were being built in the early days of the railways,"_ he said, his voice reminding Jeanie of a college lecturer giving a lesson, _"a ritual was found by a group of scientists, and they used it to give the engines a form of sentience that they'd discovered by means of this ritual, a life of their own, you could say. In later years, once it was shown to be stable and not destructive to the engines, it was used for the coaches and wagons as well, and obviously being used nowadays with the diesels and new rolling stock._

"_Anyway, many years ago and for an unknown reason, it was decided to 'secure' this 'magic' into certain engines. They would then 'hold' that magic to keep or to 'bind' it all together. The engine that was responsible for the magic on Sodor, as we on Sodor later found out a few years ago, was located in a town named Shining Time, in America. That engine was Lady. We found a very old set of buffers at the end of a branch line that turned out to be a portal that led to Shining Time and, to cut a long story short, one of our engines, Thomas, ended up saving her from Diesel Ten when he tried to destroy her, intending for her magic to fail and destroy the steam engines. If it wasn't for Thomas' bravery, he'd have succeeded. The engine that was after her ended up falling off a weak bridge and being carried away on a rubbish barge to the mainland. _

"_He returned some time after that and I only allowed him to stay on Sodor if he promised to behave himself. I don't think he's responsible for our current problem, though, as to my knowledge, he hasn't left the island, and all he's actually done since he returned is to occasionally annoy the steam engines with his bad attitude. Anyway, I don't know why Lady has fallen ill this time, but whatever it is, according to Burnett, it's made her give off a foul, black smoke that not only knocked out everyone in Shining Time, but actually killed Mr. Conductor, the controller of Shining Time Station. _

"_This smoke somehow followed Burnett to Sodor and then affected our trains. It also appears to have dispersed away into the atmosphere as, according to the people I've spoken with on the mainland, the sentient trains there are unaffected and are running as normal. It could be because the magic here on Sodor was so concentrated that this smoke was somehow weakened by it, or it was only intended for the Sodor engines. Maybe it was dispersed by the weather, I just don't know, but for now, thankfully, though that's a poor choice of word, it's only the trains here on the island that have been affected."_

"_Could it affect people, this smoke?"_ Jeanie asked him.

"_The engines I've spoken to this morning all say that they were coughing during the night it happened, and that their eyes were sore and itching when they woke up. Being part of the magic of the railway, that's probably why my wife and I both had that happen to us as well. What about you, Peregrine? Did you also have a bad night?"_

"_Now you mention it, Sir Topham, I did wake up a couple of times with a need to cough. My eyes felt okay as I sleep with a mask over them as my wife likes to read in bed for an hour or so with the light on before she gets tired."_

"_I'll have to ask the other railway staff about it,"_ Sir Topham said, more to himself than to either Jeanie or Peregrine. _"So far, though,"_ he continued, _"we haven't felt anything else wrong with us. I think that it only knocked out the people in Shining Time because it was so concentrated there. What about you, Jeanie? Do you remember coughing or having itchy eyes last night?"_

"_No,"_ she replied. _"I slept just fine. Maybe it's because I didn't have anything to do with the railways until today. What's it like at this Shining Time place right now?"_

"_I don't know for sure,"_ said Sir Topham. _"They're several hours behind us, being in America, so it's too dark there just now and look around, and anyway, I just haven't had the spare time yet. I'll have to go myself as I can't risk sending anyone else there. I'll give it a couple of hours more and then I'll go to the magic buffers and use the whistle to go to Muffle Mountain and check on Lady."_

"_Will you be safe, Sir Topham?"_ asked Peregrine.

"_Yes, I'll borrow some safety clothes and breathing apparatus from the fire station in Knapford. I'll check on Lady and see if I can find a clue as to what's affected her. There's still enough sparkle left for a few trips, thankfully. It'll take me all day to sort out this problem with the trains on my own, though, which is why I would really appreciate your help, Jeanie."_

"_Of course, Sir Topham,"_ she replied, finding herself pleased that she could be helpful in some way in Sir Topham's hour of need. _Why am I so eager, all of a sudden, _she asked herself. _It wasn't so long ago all I wanted was to get out of here!_

"_When you meet the other former trains,"_ Sir Topham then said to her, _"especially some of the older steamies, you'll find that they've got quite, how can I put it, yes, quite defining temperaments."_

Jeanie frowned, thinking that she was about to ask or say something important, but the thought had suddenly slipped her mind.

"_Sir Topham, you said you've still got an engine on the mainland?"_ Peregrine asked, bringing Jeanie's attention back to the present.

"_Yes, Edward."_

"_Do you think it'll be safe for him to come onto Sodor?"_

"_That's a very good question, Peregrine. I'll see what happens when the traffic office at Barrow phone me to say he's arrived there. Jeanie, Burnett will be having his arm operated on right about now. I hope he'll be okay, but maybe you could check with the hospital afterwards to find out for me?"_

"_Certainly, Sir Topham, but, um, there is one thing I want to ask you. This, er, this talking to the trains thing, will I be able to talk to trains as well now I'm part of the railways?"_

"_Er, I don't quite know how to answer that, Jeanie. I would think so, but if Lady is as bad as Burnett says she is, I'm not sure that she'll be able to, er, put you in the loop, as they say, just yet. Maybe if I can get Edward safely onto the island and back to Knapford, then you can have a go at talking to him when he finally gets home."_

Jeanie thought about what she'd gone through since stopping her car to help Burnett Stone that morning. First, there were the mad ravings of Toby about having changed from being a train engine into a human being, then there was Sir Topham and the whistle that had transported both him and her to where she was now, in his stately home. The fact that she'd travelled from one place on the island to another just like magic was still hard for her to accept, despite seeing the demonstration Sir Topham and Mr. Percival had given her. Although it had occurred right in front of her eyes, the cynical part of her mind still asked if it was possible that she'd been secretly drugged and that she had been hallucinating. Sir Topham Hatt, one of the most important and respected people on the island, was talking about magical talking trains as though it was an everyday thing, and she'd yet to see any of _that_ evidence. The folders and photographs could be a very elaborate way to convince her that what she was experiencing was actually true, and who actually offers a job to someone they only met in a hospital corridor?

She looked around the room, still trying to see if there were any hidden cameras about. No, that would probably happen when she actually tried talking to the engine they called Edward, she thought, and the entire nation would then see Jeanie Watkins making a right tit of herself. _It must be costing the TV people an absolute fortune for this prank,_ she thought to herself. She'd been aware of her growing acceptance of the idea of magical engines all afternoon and, at the same time, feeling her suspension of disbelief grow to accept the absurdity of it all. Her apparent willingness to serve Sir Topham could be some sort of Derren Brown trick like she'd seen him do on one of his shows on the telly, but she couldn't think of any way that they could have hypnotised her, unless they actually did drug her when she fainted earlier. _Shit! If they actually dared to do that to her,_ she told herself, _after they make a mistake and their plan to fool me falls to pieces, I'll sue their arses off them! _

The study door opening and Sir Topham's butler wheeling in a tall, wooden stand with a very old-looking projector on it brought her out of her doubting thoughts. Looking at the stand, she also saw a rolled up screen fixed to a hook at the top of it, and a length of ribbon wrapped around the bottom to stop it bumping into things as it was wheeled about. She turned her attention back to Sir Topham, as she saw that he was about to speak again.

"_Thank you, Collins," _Sir Topham said to his butler. _"Peregrine, would you set up the screen and projector for me, please?"_

"_Certainly, Sir Topham,"_ said, Mr. Percival, getting up from his chair.

"_The tea will be here in five minutes, Sir Topham,"_ his butler said before leaving and pulling the study doors closed behind him.

He returned whilst Peregrine was setting up the projector and Jeanie offered to pour the tea for herself and the others, only interrupting Sir Topham's reading to ask him and Mr. Percival how much sugar they took. As she sat down afterwards, she gazed around the room whilst sipping her tea. Mr. Percival was in his seat, idly looking around the room like she was. Sir Topham was still quietly studying the notes in the old folders. She'd noticed the painting Sir Topham's father above the fireplace earlier but hadn't pay it much attention. Looking at the man's face now, though, she could see facial features that vaguely reminded her of the man she'd seen during her tour of the Hall, and like that one, this one also showed him standing in front of a steam engine, and so she studied the rather proud-looking face of the engine that seemed to be looking straight back at her. _What? _She blinked, not believing what she was seeing, but then the face was replaced by the usual engine front that she would normally expect to see on a steam engine. _Am I hallucinating again?_ she asked herself.

No, you're not hallucinating, Jeanie. Do not doubt the truth you already know.

"_What?"_ Jeanie asked, looking around the room for the speaker. _"Who said that just now?"_

"_I beg your pardon?"_ said Sir Topham, looking up from his reading.

"_Just now,"_ Jeanie told him. _"A woman said I wasn't hallucinating and...and not to d-doubt the truth."_

"_I didn't hear any-...ah! I think I know who,"_ Sir Topham replied. _"Jeanie, close your eyes and just try not to think of anything for a few moments."_

Jeanie immediately thought that they'd used a hidden loud speaker to fool her or that it had come from a speaker on the projector, but then she began to think about what she'd heard, and it definitely had not been with her ears. Thinking more about it, it reminded her of the times when she'd gone to bed at night and, as she tried to settle down to sleep, she'd think that she'd heard a phone ringing or someone knocking her front door, but knowing at the same time that there was NO-ONE knocking the door and that the phone had definitely NOT rang. Sometimes, she'd even been convinced that her mother or father was calling her name, but they lived miles away from her.

"_Please, Jeanie,"_ Sir Topham urged her. _"Just for a minute or so."_

What was really puzzling Jeanie was how on earth could someone have known what she was thinking. Shaking her head, she let out a breath of resignation and closed her eyes.

_Thank you, Jeanie. Please trust me. My name is Lady. I'm using the last of my strength just for this. What you and Sir Topham are doing is vital if you want to save me, but to do that, you have to be true to yourself. Do you know what I look like?_

"_No,"_ Jeanie answered out loud, totally enamoured by the gentle tone of the mysterious voice.

_I look like this..._

Jeanie was trying to do as Sir Topham had asked and not think of anything but the image of a small purple and gold-coloured steam engine popped onto her mindscreen. Thinking that it was just her imagination, she trying to clear it away by thinking of just blackness, but it kept forcing itself into her thoughts, and then she was shocked to hear the voice say, _**Please, Jeanie, don't fight me. I'm much too weak for that. I want to help you, Jeanie, but that's all I can do for you. One day, Jeanie, I hope to see what YOU look like. Please, tell Sir Topham exactly what you have just seen, and that I've been holding on to the very last of my magic to fight this thing, but now, I'm too tired and I can't fight it anymore, and I'm scared for what'll happen to me when I let go of my magic and it goes dark in my mind. I ha...I have to now, Jeanie. G-g-goodbye.**_ The image faded and Jeanie opened her eyes, looking straight away for Sir Topham.

He raised one eyebrow as if to ask what had occurred and she opened her mouth, pausing to think how to put it across without getting caught in some trick.

"_It...it was Lady,"_ Jeanie said quietly, wiping at a tear that had found its way out from her right didn't know how, but she had actually _felt _Lady's fear of dying when she'd been talking inside her head, and it was something that she'd never ever imagined in her young life. The hopelessness that Lady was feeling had been like a sponge, soaking up all of Jeanie's emotions and leaving just a shell that contained only the feeling of loss and grief; the expectation of losing EVERYTHING except just a grain of hope that one's friends might be able to help. _"She...she told me to tell you that she's too tired to fight whatever it is that's affecting her. She's very weak and...and she has to let go of her magic." _

"_That poor, poor little engine," _said Sir Topham, shaking his head and looking quite miserable with what Jeanie had just told him. _"Did...did she say anything else? Anything that might help us in some way to save her?"_

"_No...no, Sir Topham, except that she was scared of dying."_ Jeanie thought of the little engine that she had _imagined? No. Been shown, _and she stifled a little sob. The idea of some sort of mind hidden away inside it, a mind just like a child that feared its demise saddened her so much that she wished she'd never become involved with the Sodor railways, and _she _felt like giving up herself.

"_I...I saw something," _she said. _"I want to tell you what I saw, but...something inside me is holding back."_

"_I think," _ said Sir Topham, _"that you don't trust what you saw, or me. Here, write it down on this and then tell me what you saw, then we'll take it from there,"_ he concluded, handing her a sheet of note paper and a biro.

Thinking that he might see what she was writing by the way the pen moved, she said, _"Excuse me a moment,"_ and got up from her seat and walked over to a corner of the study to write on the paper, standing with her back to the room. She quickly glanced over her shoulder halfway through, but neither Sir Topham nor Mr. Percival had moved from where they were when she got up from her seat. Finishing what she was writing, she folded the sheet of paper twice and turned to face the room.

"_Okay,"_ she said, carefully watching Sir Topham. _"The voice I heard told me that what I was seeing was Lady."_

Sir Topham, nodding his head, then got up from behind the desk and went over to a shelf next to the window on his right, and withdrew a thick blue file from amongst several others. He opened it and turned over several pages of what Jeanie assumed was a photo album, judging by what she could see of it. Stopping at one page in particular, he carried the open album over to where she was standing and said, _"Is this what you saw?"_

Jeanie gasped. She was looking at a picture of two steam engines photograph side by side on parallel railway tracks, well, not quite side by side, as the small blue engine was slightly further back than the other one. The small engine in front was the one that had caused her to react in the way she did, as it was exactly like the one she had seen in her mind. It was a small purple and gold steam engine that the voice had said was what Lady looked like, but there was no face on it. It was just a normal steam engine, normal in every way except that she'd just had an image of it pushed into her mind by that very same engine from thousands of miles away.

"_Yes, that's it,"_ she confirmed, pointing her finger at the purple and gold engine in the picture.

"_Did the one you see have a face?"_

"_No, Sir Topham, it didn't."_

"_Hmm. I can't show you any pictures of the engines' faces as cameras don't always see what we can," _said Sir Topham,_ "not unless they've been...conditioned, yes, conditioned would be an appropriate word to use, but I have no idea how that's done. May I ask what you put on the sheet of paper?" _

Jeanie slowly unfolded the note paper and held it up for Sir Topham to see what she'd written.

He looked over to Mr. Percival and said, _"It says 'Purple and gold steam engine."_

Mr. Percival nodded and, despite the sombre air after Lady's sad message, he smiled at Jeanie. _"I don't know whether to be envious of not, but she didn't do THAT for me when I started to work here. No, I had to wait for Diesel Ten to try and kill her!"_ he said, in mock bitterness.

Jeanie smiled in gentle humour and walked silently back to her chair to sit down to think about what had just happened. There was NO way she had given Sir Topham any clue AT ALL as to what she'd seen, only the name, and he actually had a photograph of what she had seen in her mind! The thought that all this could actually be true suddenly hit her like a thunderbolt from the sky. It...it was earth-shattering in its implications. _Real, talking trains!_ She thought to herself, _I've just been speaking with one of them that might be dying and I'll be able to talk to the others, no, one of them if he can come back to Sodor, as well! Oh, my God!_

"_You look like you need another cup of tea, Jeanie," _said Sir Topham, putting the album back on the shelf and turning to the tea trolley, _"though it might not be as hot as the first one!"_

As she re-composed herself, she saw Sir Topham pick up one of the old film reels and threaded the film onto the projector's rollers.

"_Right,"_ he said._ "I've checked carefully and there are only three reels, though they're marked 'two', 'three', and 'four', there's no number one, so let's see what's on the number two reel first, then. Percival, would you close the curtains, please?"_

Once the room was darkened, Sir Topham flicked a switch on the projector and it started up, its soft whirring the only sound in the room as the three of them looked at the white, canvas screen in eager anticipation.

There was no soundtrack, only several seconds of black, marked only with the usual streaks they'd all seen before on an old film, then the jerky motions of the people that had been filmed as they walked about in front of and alongside one of the primitive-looking steam engine that Jeanie had seen in the photographs earlier. The position of the camera was such that it gave a three-quarter profile view of the engine, and as she watched the old recording, she briefly wondered what it would be like if people actually moved about like that back then. It had obviously been made during the early days of cinematography, she decided, looking at the style of clothing on some of the men as they pointed at various things on the small engine and generally fussed about. She assumed them to be officials of the railway company or something, and she glanced across at Sir Topham and Mr. Percival, but they were too engrossed in what they were seeing to make any comment about them.

Two engineers in overalls were chalking strange, meaningless symbols on the left-hand side of the engine's cab and boiler, symbols that she couldn't read or recognise, but they reminded her of something she'd once seen in a film about witchcraft on late-night TV when she was younger. Whilst the engine was being marked, another engineer walked in front of the camera and held up a small white rock or something, but when the cameraman re-focused the lens, it was clearly seen to be a rather large gemstone of some sort. _"Well, well,"_ said Sir Topham. _"Facets!"_

"_Sir Topham?" _asked Mr. Percival, in need of an explanation.

"_Facets,"_ Sir Topham repeated. _"There are two facets in all the talking engines on Sodor. They are what keep the engines alive, if you will. One tucked away inside the firebox, and one inside the smokebox. When that engine, Burton, died in that head-on crash back in '65, it was because the facet inside his smokebox got destroyed in the collision. I remember it was a very sad time for the visiting engine, as he thought that he was to blame, but it was a points failure that put Burton onto his line and there was no way to signal or contact him."_

"_I see,"_ said Mr. Percival.

"_Incidentally,"_ continued Sir Topham,_ "there's also a very small facet lodged inside this projector. I've got no idea why it's there, though. Maybe something on one of these reels of film will show me."_

They saw this new engineer walk over to the engine and then climb up to open the smokebox access door on the front of its boiler and place the gemstone somewhere high up inside. He then closed the smokebox door and jumped down before walking off-camera to somewhere unknown.

"_That was the first one being put into place,"_ said Sir Topham, for the benefit of both Peregrine and Jeanie.

The camera, when the film had been made, must have been mounted on a wheeled stand or trolley, if the sudden jerkiness and un-focusing and re-focusing was anything to go by as the camera panned along the length of the engine to capture all that was being done to it. before being pulled back several yards in front of the engine to show two engineers doing the same on the other side. While that was still going on, The camera was then dragged or pushed to show a side-on view of the whole engine, but centred on its cab and un-manned footplate. The same engineer returned into shot, holding a second gemstone which he again showed the cameraman. He then climbed up onto the empty footplate and bent down to open the engine's firebox door, reach into it and seemingly affix the gemstone inside. He then closed the firebox door and climbed back down to the ground and walked off-screen again just before the film suddenly came to an end.

"_And that was the second one being put in,"_ said Peregrine Percival, nodding as he looked at Sir Topham.

"_So far," _said Sir Topham, _ "it's been very educational, though mysterious, what with those strange markings they were putting all over the engine."_

Sir Topham asked for the study's room-lights to be switched on and Jeanie allowed Peregrine to do the honours, believing him to be more familiar with where the light-switch was. Sir Topham removed the film reel and replaced it with one that had the number '3' marked on it. _"This is the third one in the sequence,"_ he said, before nodding to Peregrine.

The room now dark again, they watched as the third reel commenced, starting from the same camera position as when the number two reel finished and showing the left-hand side of the same engine. From what they'd seen earlier as the camera was being moved about, it looked as though it had been filmed inside an engine factory. _"What do you think those markings are for, Peregrine?"_ Sir Topham asked.

"_I've no idea, Sir," _he replied. _"If I didn't know any better, I'd say it was some sort of black magic we're looking at!"_

Then, as they continued to watch, they saw five men wearing long robes walk into view before positioning themselves equidistant around the engine. They were all carrying an opened book and, at a signal from a sixth man, also in robes, they appeared to be reading out loud from the books they were holding, judging by the look of the one man whose face they could see, but, the film being made during the silent days of cinematography, neither of the three people in Sir Topham's study had any idea of what was being said. This went on for a few minutes until the men all suddenly took several quick steps backwards and several plumes of smoke and steam started to vent itself from the engine. The engine then seemed to burst into flames that were immediately sucked up into the steamy cloud that began to swirl around the length of the engine. Faster and faster the smoke or whatever it was twisted and spun around the engine, gaining speed until it looked like a mini-whirlwind and continuing like that for a minute or so before veering up above the engine and suddenly shrinking in size, wrapping itself tightly around the engine, giving the impression that it was being vacuum-wrapped in polythene, then the engine started to lightly glow and the camera was quickly pulled to the left, stopping when it again had a three-quarter profile shot of the engine.

Next thing, and through the grey cloud or whatever it was that had covered the engine, they saw what appeared to be a brighter glow forming around the engine's smokebox. Brighter and brighter it got until it suddenly flared, too bright to be captured correctly by the primitive film, then the glow around the engine completely faded and whatever it was that had wrapped itself around the engine was suddenly sucked up and disappeared into its narrow funnel. The film continued running, showing only the stationary engine with whatever it was that had been daubed over it for a couple of minutes as the five robed men took up their original positions, continuing with their recitation of whatever it was that they were reading from their books. What happened next caused all three of the study's occupants to gasp in shock and surprise. _"Oh...my...God!"_ Jeanie exclaimed, as she saw the metal front of the engine's smokebox begin to slowly morph into the shape of a human face.

The camera pulled back a few more feet, capturing the first tentative movements of the newly created sentient engine as it rolled slowly forward for a couple of feet before pausing as though to rest for a moment, then repeating this action several times before the reel came to a sudden end.

"_Phew,"_ whistled Sir Topham. _"I've never seen anything like in my life!"_ he gasped, shaking his head with astonishment as he stared at the white screen, totally oblivious to the projector's take-up reel as it continued to spin.

"_That...that was truly wondrous,"_ said Peregrine. _"It...it was miraculous!"_

Pulling himself together with a rapid shake of his head, Sir Topham went to replace the empty feed reel with the one marked '3', fumbling it two times in his haste before he realised that the room was still in darkness and asked Peregrine to put the light back on for him.

Once he'd re-loaded the projector, they watched the third piece of footage with bated breath as the face, now recognisable as a man's, contorted as though in great pain, it's eyes rolling in every direction as it's mouth moved soundlessly in front of the camera, trying to vocalise what seemed to be distress after an agonising birth pain. Engineers scrambled up the side of the engine, hastily re-drawing the strange symbols as though their lives, or that of the engine, depended on it, and the engineer that had installed the gemstones walked over to stand in front of the newly formed face. He, too, had an opened book and he started reciting something, though the trio watching the film soon realised that he was, in fact, loudly chanting something to the engine. This went on for quite a while, during which the engineer seemed to be repeating himself, as he hadn't once turned over any pages of the book he was holding. Finally, after several minutes of watching the engine's painful but soundless suffering, the face settled down into a blank, neutral state, neither pained nor joyful, neither happy nor sad, only with a look of patient and calm acceptance on it as it stared at the engineer standing in front of it.

Now that the newly-sentient engine had calmed down after its distress, the engineer in front it could be seen turning the book's pages, as though searching for something in particular. Then, finding what he was looking for, he looked up at the face on the front of the engine and started to speak again, his head moving slightly as though he was explaining something to the engine. Sir Topham was really disappointed that there was no soundtrack with the film, as he'd have given almost anything to know what was being said there. As he continued to watch what was happening, the mouth of the engine's face suddenly moved as though it was replying to something the engineer had said to it. The conversation between man and engine went on for a short while it ended with the man stepping up close to the engine and tapping its left front buffer affectionately. A cloud of steam burst forth from amidst its wheels and, once the engineer had stepped away from in front of the engine, it slowly moved forwards out of shot, revealing a crowd of engineers and suited men that had been standing on the other side of it, looking very excited and shaking each others hands before the film suddenly went blank and a quickening of the projector's take-up reel told Sir Topham that he could now switch off the projector. _"Wow," _exclaimed a somewhat shaken Peregrine before walking over and switching the study's lights back on again.

Jeanie looked over to Sir Topham and saw tears running down his face. By the open-mouthed grin he had on his face, she assumed they were tears of joy. She was correct.

"_We...we've just seen something so...so magnificent,"_ he stammered. _"I-I'm humbled!"_

As a young boy, whenever he'd asked his father how the engines had been made and why were they able to talk, he had never been given a proper explanation. Now, though, he had viewed part of the process involved in creating the sentient engines, but it was only part. He had no idea how the facets had been made or what had been done to them in order for them to be the crucial element in the engines' sentience. The obscure markings that had been daubed all over the engine were an equal mystery, although the actions carried out by the five, no, six men with their books, whatever they contained, strongly suggested something arcane. The disorientation experienced by the engine after its face had formed made him think of a baby being born to the world, and the engineer chanting to it was reminiscent of a midwife smacking the new-born's bottom to induce it to cry, but in this case, the 'smack' was to _stop_ it crying, then the fact that the camera they used to record the 'birth' for prosperity had actually filmed the engine's face struck him. That was supposed to be impossible, he'd always thought. The face had been caught on film and shown via the projector!

_Wait a moment,_ he then thought. _That facet inside it. I wonder if that's got something to do with it? The ones in the engines obviously ensure the railway magic lives through the engines, I wonder if the facet inside the projector allows the magic, their faces, that is, to be seen? There must have been a facet inside the camera as well! My father KNEW the facet was in the projector, I wonder if he knew that that was what it was for? I'll have to study these notes more fully sometime to see just what is actually in them, and that fire-burst, that looked like it came from something that we couldn't see! I'll have to wind that film back tonight and have a closer look at it. _

Peregrine Percival was feeling overawed by what he'd just seen and learnt. There was so much more to the sentient engines and their creation than he'd ever imagined possible. He'd called it 'Black Magic', but there wasn't anything he saw by the end of the film footage that warranted that particular description any more, rather, it was the most beautiful thing he'd seen since watching his _own_ children being born many years ago. He replayed the scene of the engine's face emerging from its smokebox and just smiled with joy.

The sadness that Jeanie had been feeling over Lady's possible death had been lightened considerably by what she'd just witnessed. The prime reason for that was that she'd now actually seen what the engines' faces would look like, and the fact that Lady had spoken to her in her mind was making her wonder if that was how _all_ the engines spoke. _Was it telepathy or something like that? I'll have to ask Sir Topham._ In fact, that was only one of many questions that were forcing themselves to the forefront of her mind, but when she'd opted to ask about how she would hear Edward when she eventually got to speak to him, she saw that he'd gone over to his drinks cabinet and was pouring out three glasses of sherry. He handed a glass each to Peregrine and herself and, picking up his own, said, _"I propose a toast. I think that it's right that after seeing those old recordings, we should pay homage to those pioneers of the magic railways, would you both agree?"_

"_Yes, Sir Topham,"_ said Peregrine._ "I most certainly agree."_

"_Yes, so do I, Sir Topham,"_ said Jeanie. _"I didn't think when I was driving to my sister's this morning that I would end up being involved with such a...an unbelievable thing as a magic railway. I've been having doubts all day about how I should be feeling, what with being whisked away from the hospital like that, and seeing the two of you disappear from right in front of my eyes. Lady sending me a picture of what she looks like and speaking to me, I just can't imagine what else there is to discover about all this."_

"_Only time can tell you that, Jeanie,"_ Sir Topham replied, smiling at her. _"If we manage to save Lady and return the engines to their former states, you could have a life time in which to find out, and if we fail, it could either be all over for all of us; the railways AND the former engines. All we have at the moment is hope!" _

Sir Topham then raised his glass high into the air, and said, _"To the magic railways...long may they survive!"_

Peregrine raised his glass as well, and looked over to Jeanie and she imitated the two men as they clinked their glasses together and called out, _"TO THE MAGIC RAILWAYS!"_

ooOOoo


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8 

James was enjoying himself. Riding in a car was a real treat; and it was just as exciting as when he was pulling the express instead of Gordon. His head was swivelling back and forth as he tried to look at both sides of the roads he was travelling along, not wanting to miss any of this new scenery.

It wasn't taking him and Steve, the fitter accompanying him, long to check the stations they'd been allocated, as the taxi driver knew the roads on Sodor very well, and so they'd started off by visiting the stations at Dryaw, Toryrock and Elsbridge and, after rounding up and berating a few former trucks that had decided that throwing ballast from the tracks at some dogs and the clothes that were hanging from the washing lines in people's back gardens was a good idea, James and Steve tied the troublesome teenagers to some chairs in the café at Elsbridge station. They were also warned by Steve before he left for Crosby that, if they misbehaved, Sir Topham would send them to the scrapworks to be melted down when they changed back into metal trucks.

There, they found a small group of former coaches that had been gathered together by the station staff and were now being consoled and fed by the canteen lady at Crosby Station. James had met some of them before when he'd been given passenger services to do on the mainline, and so he decided to show how useful he could be by cheering them up with his natural exuberance, though he hadn't been that pleased when they'd started to touch and stroke his new shiny red leather coat with their chocolate-stained hands. He was starting to feel as much pride in his new red leather coat as he did his original red paintwork, and kept wiping it clean with some tissues, thinking that it might get ruined with the mess it was getting into. Finally, after assuring the former coaches that Sir Topham was dealing with the situation, he managed to leave his adoring fans and get back to the peace and quiet of the taxi-cab.

Bo-Co, James recalled, had been looking to do something different for a few days, which explained why he and Steve had found the green-suited former BR Class 35 Bo-Bo Hymek Diesel Hydraulic, Bear, sitting on a bench at Wellsworth Station, looking at a newspaper with intense fascination as he turned the pages to look at the pictures. Even though there was friendly competition between him and James when it came to who was going to pull Gordon's Express when the large blue engine was otherwise busy, Bear was the only diesel that James was really fond of. He was quite different to the other diesels and very friendly with the rest of the steamies as well, unlike the arrogant and bad-mouthed diesel engine that had come to Sodor with Bear in many years ago. That other diesel, D199, had spent his time doing nothing but insult the steamies until both Duck and 7101, as Bear was known as then, both made him shut up.

"_Hello, Bear,"_ James greeted him warmly. _"Busy enough here for you?"_

"_Hello to you, too, James. I DO like your new red coat!"_

"_Yours isn't bad, either,"_ replied James, looking at the seated man's light-green two-piece suit and tie with lime trimming on the coat's cuffs and edging, and underneath that he had a grey shirt. James' own leather coat was buttoned all the way up to his neck and, as he couldn't undo it, he didn't know what he had on underneath, though if he had the chance to look in a mirror, he'd see the top of a red tie and the collar of a black shirt.

"_How are you finding it as a human?"_ he asked Bear.

"_It's strange, but not too bad,"_ his diesel friend replied._ "I nearly got taken away by the police this morning!"_

"_What do you mean?"_ asked an alarmed James.

"_Well, there were three coaches here with me last night, and when I woke up this morning with three women lying on the track behind me, all they wanted to do was to cling to each other and fret about what had happened to them. Me, all I wanted to do was to find somewhere to go to. I'd walked almost half a mile along the track before two of the station workers came running up to me and told me to come back to the station with them. They weren't sure who I was and were about to call the police and have me and the three women taken away, but Sir Topham phoned them, just in time, I must say, and told them that something nasty had happened to Lady and that the trains in Tidmouth and Knapford had all changed into people. How long are we going to be like this, James? I can't sit here al day, I've got work to do."_

"_I don't know, Bear,"_ said James, frowning. _"Sir Topham said that he was going to find out why this has happened to us. That's all I know, but he's given some of us important jobs to do,"_ he proudly boasted.

"_I wish he'd give me something to do,"_ sighed Bear_. "I was having so much fun covering for Bo-Co. One thing puzzles me, though."_

"_What's that?" _

"_Why can't I take these gloves off? It makes turning the pages of this newspaper really awkward!"_

"_I don't know,"_ replied James. _"I tried to mine off this morning but they were stuck on as well. Maybe they're not supposed to come off. Percy thought that if we could take our clothes off and we suddenly changed back into engines, we'd end up on the floor in bits and pieces and be scrapped. I wouldn't like that to happen to my red paintwork at all!"_

"_No, I suppose you're right. Ah well, I suppose that's how it is. So, do I stay here all day like this, or what?"_

"_You wait here, I suppose. I'm only supposed to check where everyone is. Sir Topham will probably decide what to do with us all when he returns to Knapford."_

"_Oh! Where's he gone, then?"_

"_He's gone to St. Tibba's Hospital to see Burnett Stone. It was him that told Sir Topham about Lady being ill and losing her magic."_

"_Oh. I don't know who he is, but I hope that Lady gets better,"_ said Bear.

"_Hello, Bear,"_ called Steve, returning from speaking to the three former coaches. _"I must say, you are looking fine considering what's happening to you engines."_

"_Thank you, Sir,"_ said Bear. _"James was saying just the very same thing."_

"_Well, James, I've managed to calm those three down, so we'd better get going. Bear, things will get sorted out, I'm sure. Just sit tight for now, though, yes?"_

"_I'm sure your right, Sir. Sir Topham's never let us down before."_

"_That's the spirit, Bear. Be safe, and goodbye."_

"_Goodbye, Sir, and goodbye, James."_

"_Goodbye, Bear. See you again soon, I'm sure."_

James and Steve started their way back to the taxi and James looked across to Steve, and said, _"Steve, Sir, Bear said something to me just now that's making me think. I never thought about it before today because, well, it was just something that we knew to be true, but, do you know why the coaches and trucks aren't as bright as us engines?"_

After a few moments of thought, Steve replied, _"Well, James, I suppose it's because all they have to do is to carry people or goods. They don't need to think about what they're doing, unlike you engines. What I mean is that you all have to know about signals and routes and controlling your speed, don't you?"_

"_Yes, Sir, that's very true. I've never thought of that like that before now. All I knew before today was that I had to pull coaches and trucks whenever I was told to. It was all I ever felt I wanted to do, though I'd rather pull coaches than trucks, though, and I used to know if something was right or wrong and I'd be either happy or sad. Sometimes, I'd even be angry, especially when the diesels were calling me names and making fun of my red paint. Now, though, I wonder about things that I used to take for granted, like, why do I have a driver when I can move by myself?"_

Steve, like all the other fitters and railway workers, knew that although the trains were sentient to a certain degree, some were more sentient than others. The engines were more sentient than the coaches, which had to be aware of the passengers inside them, and they were more sentient than the trucks that only needed to know whether they were laden or not. There were subtle differences, of course, after all, the guardsvans had to know when to assist with braking, but that didn't explain how the Troublesome Trucks could get away with their bad behaviour. All the engines, Steve knew, had a duty to serve, and the work imperative was at its strongest with both the steam engines and the diesels, and they and the coaches could all manage to converse with the railway staff, which quite pleased Steve when Sir Topham had given him the opportunity to accompany the former red engine on this task. As to James' question regarding drivers, though, that was quite easy to explain.

"_Because, James, trains are such big and heavy things, the safety of the public has to be the most important thing, and that's why, although you can do the job yourself, drivers have to be able to take over control of the engines when necessary. They have to be there to stop the train if they realise or notice something that you may not have, also, in the case of the smaller engines, the fireman is needed to shovel coal into their firebox and to take on water when it's needed. Because trains haven't got arms, they can't do that by themselves. If you break down, they can either fix what's wrong with you or walk to an emergency phone and ask for a fitter like me to come and help. Engines just can't do that by themselves, can they?. Tell me, James, if you were travelling through countryside and you broke down, what would you do if you didn't have anyone on your footplate?"_

"_I'd be stuck there until someone came along and found me,"_ said James.

"_That's right, or another train came along and crashed into you because you couldn't put warning detonators on the track, also, what if you had to switch tracks and the electronic points were broken?"_

"_I'd end up going the wrong way."_ James replied, grinning that he now understood the rightness of why he wasn't allowed to drive by himself. Before this conversation, all he'd known was simply that orders from the railway staff were meant to be obeyed, now though, he knew why things were as they were. He opened the door to the taxi and carefully climbed in. Before today, he'd never imagined having to do such a complicated and fiddley thing such as to fasten a seat belt, now though, after a couple of awkward attempts before they'd left Knapford Station that morning, he was doing it just as well as Steve was, and as Steve gave the taxi driver instructions to their next destination, James smiled, nodding his head as he thought that thinking like a human instead of an engine wasn't so complicated after all.

At Suddery, Steve was pleased to be told by the station master there that Alan, the driver accompanying Gordon, had called in that morning and phoned Brendam Station and the clay works, leaving a note of the wagons and engines there for him, and after marking his own list as appropriate, they set off for the last two stations, Cronk and Killdane.

Many of the engines and rolling stock on Sodor, through countless years of servitude, had reacted to their change of form in pretty much the same way, by staying close to where they'd woken up. They were so used to having their movement being confined to the two thin iron rails they'd found themselves lying between that morning, that was where they felt they had to stay, huddled together nervously in groups. There was a reason why the Tidmouth engines were respected and looked up to by the other steamies on Sodor, and that was their long experience and better understanding of the railways. Some of these other engines, though, thought that they should go and find the station masters or one of the other railway workers to get instructions, and had led long lines of variously-garbed former coaches and trucks along the tracks to the station where they stood waiting on the track next to the platform of the station they had reached. Such was the case at Cronk, where James and Steve had found a bemused station master standing at the edge of the platform talking to a grey-haired man dressed in a long, white leather coat. Behind the man down on the track, a long line of women and youngsters stood about looking worried. The former engine's coat was reflecting the sunlight so much that it was difficult to see its silver edging and cuffs. What wasn't difficult to see as Steve and James got nearer, was the pair of bright red shoes he was wearing. The two men were trying to persuade a group of women and youths that it would be best for them that they come up off the track and sit in the waiting room. James and Steve walked up to the two men and introduced themselves.

"_J-J-James!"_ exclaimed the station master_. "Well, I never! When Sir Topham and then his secretary phoned me saying the most surprising things, I thought they were both playing a trick on me until I went outside and saw this lot."_

"_What's the matter with them?"_ Steve asked the station master.

During the course of the morning, he'd been playing a mental game, trying to identify the various trucks from the way they were dressed, and the only three he'd got incorrect were two box vans that were a bit miffed to hear that he'd thought them to be flat-beds, and a tanker wagon that was horrified to think that the fitter thought him more suited to carry horrible, dirty oil than nice, clean milk, and Steve, seeing the numerous former trucks dressed in various coloured garb milling about below the platform, decided that he'd played _that_ particular game long enough, and gave up.

"_Hello, Stanley,"_ James said to the slightly shorter man. He'd found as the morning wore on that identifying the former engines he was meeting to be quite easy, now that he was more accepting his new form. It seemed that the magic of the Sodor railways was still maintaining a binding connection amongst the former trains despite what had happened to them. _"You're looking rather shiny today,"_he continued,_ "and what marvellous shoes you've got. They're as red as my coat!"_ James twirled round, showing off his new look.

Stanley had been brought to Sodor to take care of Thomas' workload during the restoration of Great Waterton. A very friendly and willing engine, Stanley soon became very popular and enjoyed the company of the other engines, all except for Thomas, James recalled. The blue tank engine had felt jealous and believed that the stronger and more powerful white engine would take over his place on the railway. Thomas had then tried to play a trick on Stanley that made him look weak, only for his plan to fail, and whilst Stanley made a lot of new friends, Thomas was looked down upon by his fellow engines for his horrible trick.

Later, when Thomas went missing, it was none other than Stanley, his supposed replacement, that had found and rescued him, earning him Thomas' respect and then friendship as they worked together restoring the lost town of Great Waterton. Some time after that, James, had worked with both Thomas and Stanley, helping with the rebuilding of the Sodor River Bridge, and that was when James and Stanley had become very good friends.

"_Well,"_ said the station master to Steve, _"They're being rather stubborn, that's what the matter with them!"_

"_Well, they can't stay down there all day,"_ said Steve.

"_I think they look really smart,"_ said Stanley.

"_You'll have to keep them nice and clean, though."_

"_People will see them and ask questions about them."_

"_I tried pulling them up earlier but they just wanted to stay there."_

"_We could tie them together to keep them in one place."_

"_They must be hungry by now."_

"_Have you offered them anything to eat?" _

"_That might work."_

"_I don't want them to get dirty."_

"_What do you think would be best for them?"_

"_I've always liked damp rags."_

"_We could spray them with water."_

"_They'll get soaking wet!"_

"_They'll get soaking wet when it rain, anyway."_

"_So it's agreed, then, yes?"_

"_Yes."_

"_I think that's the best course of action."_

"_I agree."_

"_Right, I'll tie Stanley's shoes together."_

"_And then I'll feed them some wet rags!"_

"_Can I spray them with water after you've done that?"_

"_Okay."_

"_I'll use that hose-pipe over by there."_

"_Right."_

"_I'll get a bucket, then."_

"_What?"_

"_Who?"_

"_Me or you?"_

"_Um...him?"_

"_What?"_

"_Who, me?_

"_I didn't do it!"_

"_Nor me!"_

"_STOP!"_ shouted the station master, covering his face with his hands in confusion. _"All of you, SHUT UP! I don't know which way my head is turning! James...stop talking about Stanley's shoes. Stanley...they're YOUR wagons...were wagons, whatever! Get them up off the tracks NOW! James, you will help him! You, whatsyourname, you're a fitter, go...and...go and fit something, but I want all of _them_ up off the tracks and on the platform pronto!_"

The red-faced station master pointed down to the large group standing just below the platform before turning around and storming off back to his office, muttering something about shoes, children in a school-yard, and the damned no-smoking whilst on duty rule.

It took the two former engines over ten minutes of coaxing and persuasion that they would be safe and well inside the station's waiting room before the women and youths finally gave up their resistance and slowly clambered up onto the platform, then, after bidding a cheery farewell to Stanley, James and Steve returned to their taxi that was waiting for them outside the station.

The last station to check, Killdane, turned out to be pretty much deserted with nothing or no-one in sight except for some pigeons parading up and down the platform as they searched for any crumbs that had been dropped by the previous day's passengers munching on pastries and crisps whilst they waited for their train. Steve and James, feeling quite pleased that they'd at last finished their allotted task, sat back in the taxi to enjoy the sights on their journey back to Knapford.

ooo

Both Splatter and Dodge breathed a sigh of relief as the pump trolley slowed to a halt beside the platform at Knapford Station. They'd been pumping the trolley like fury all day, and now all they wanted to do was to sit down somewhere, rest, and have something to eat.

"_One of you, stay here and guard the trolley,"_ ordered Diesel 10. _"I don't want any of those stinky steamies to steal it. The other one can come with me and have something to eat before we go and see Sir Topham. Daisy, you come wit me as well. No-one'll bother you while I'm with you."_

Daisy accepted the hand he offered to help her step onto the platform and they made their way towards the café.

"_Ooh, what's that over there?"_ Dodge suddenly asked, pointing across the tracks to nothing in particular.

"_What? Where?"_ Splatter asked, looking over to where his friend was pointing. _"I don't see anything,"_ he continued, only to see as he turned back round that Dodge had quickly sneaked onto the platform and was catching up to where Diesel 10 and Daisy were, and was about to enter the café.

"_Look after the trolley for us,"_ Dodge called back to his friend, _"there's a good lad!"_

Splatter let out an exasperated sigh as he sat down on the front edge of the trolley, swinging his legs back and fo. _"That Dodge, he gets me every time,"_ he muttered.

As the threesome entered the café, Percy looked up and saw his worst nightmare walking in. It was Diesel 10, with a wide smirk on his face as he gently ushered Daisy, the engine he'd let get away from the station earlier that morning, to a seat at one of the tables over by the back wall of the café.

"_Well, well, well,"_ sneered Diesel 10 as he passed by Percy's table. _"Look who's sitting by here! It's Percy, my fine little green...friend. Look, Percy, look who I've found and saved from a terrible plight. If you'd been better at your job, she wouldn't have got into any trouble, would she? It just goes to show, doesn't it?"_

"_Sh-sh-show what?"_ stammered Percy, finding himself quite intimidated by the tall man.

"_Why, it simply shows that you steamies are past it! You can't do even a simple job. Whatever will Sir Topham do with you, I wonder? Where is he, by the way?"_

"_He's gone to the hospital,"_ said Toby, not sure that he wanted to get too involved with the man that looked much more frightening as a person than he did as an engine.

"_He's gone to see how Burnett Stone is after his accident,"_ added Henrietta.

"_That looser?"_ snorted Diesel 10, rolling his eyes. _"What's wrong with him, then? Is his heart broken again because his Lady love is unwell?"_

"_There's no need to talk about him like that,"_ said Toby, deciding that he should speak up for the man that had gotten hurt as a result of his own haste. _"He came here to warn us about Lady's magic failing. He got hurt when I derailed last night."_

Diesel 10 started laughing loudly on hearing that.

"_I dinna ken tha to be verra funny,"_ said Emily, quite put out with the large, former diesel's attitude.

"_HA-HA-HA-HA! Tha-that's just brilliant,"_ laughed Diesel 10. _"That's TWO steamies now that can't do anything right! That's really made my day!"_

Emily huffed indignantly to herself, but seeing the obviously upset Daisy as she sat down and nervously looked about the café, went over to comfort her, leaving the laughing former diesel without any response from her as he looked for something to eat.

ooo

Thomas, eager to show Sir Topham that he was a useful eng-, um, person now and that he could be trusted to get the job done, had been rather put out when, just before exiting the platform at Knapford with Gerald, one of the drivers he sometimes worked with, he almost bumped into the rather plump Duck. The green-coated man squawked in surprise and immediately wanted to know where Thomas was going in such a rush.

"_Sir Topham has given me an important job to do,"_ Thomas had proudly told him.

"_Well, I'd better come along with you to make sure you do it right,"_ Duck had replied.

That was one thing that Thomas really didn't want. He knew that if the former GWR 57xx 0-6-0PT came with him, then he'd end up taking charge and taking away any credit that Thomas felt _he _should get from Sir Topham when they returned to Knapford later that day.

"_Um...er...you can't!"_ said Thomas, desperately. _"Sir Topham only said that driver Gerald was coming with me, and besides, I don't think there'll be room for you in the taxi as well."_

"_Well, in that case, there's only one thing I can say, then,"_ said Duck, glaring at Thomas.

Thomas hoped that he hadn't hurt his friend by refusing his company. Although they had known each other since 1955, he and the other engines had found that the squat green engine was a bit of a stickler when it came to work ethics, always maintaining that 'There are two ways of doing things: the Great Western way, or the wrong way.'

Before being given his own branch line between Tidmouth and Arlesburgh to work on, Duck had been working on the main line, which had led to the other green engine, Percy, coming to work with Thomas on his own Knapford to Ffarquhar branch line, and the two small engines had been the best of friends since.

"_There are two ways of doing things,"_ said Duck,_ "there's the Great Western way, or the wrong way."_

"_Well,"_ snapped Thomas, _"I'll just have to make sure that I don't do it the wrong way!"_

"_That's my fellow!"_ Duck exclaimed, pleased that he'd been able to teach Thomas something that would be of great benefit. _"Just don't allow yourself to get distracted as you go along and all will be fine."_

"_Ooh,"_ Thomas suddenly gasped, thinking on how he could show the former Great Western engine that he was starting off on the right foot. _"Where are your coaches, Alice and Mirabel, and have you seen Oliver anywhere?"_

"_My ladies are following along behind, they'll be here shortly, and Oliver was in his shed the last I saw of him, talking to Donald and Douglas."_

"_And are they in train or human form?"_ asked Thomas, marking the engines' location on the sheet that Sir Topham had given him.

"_They're in...human form,"_ answered Duck,_ "if you want to put it like that, just like my ladies. It's good to see you're taking this seriously, Thomas. Sir Topham will be pleased with you."_

"_I'm sure he will,"_ retorted Thomas. If there was one thing that the other engines did when talking with Duck, it was to make sure that they were clear in everything they said to him. Although Duck was a hard-worker, he could be rather strait-laced at the best of times.

Happy with his checking so far, Thomas bid Duck farewell and walked outside the station to join Gerald by the taxi that would take them to Arlesburgh to check on the small steam engines. After they'd got into the taxi and set off, Thomas recalled what Sir Topham had warned him, and wondered what would happen if he started to feel strange whilst he was still inside the taxi, as though he were going to change back into an engine. Then he remembered Sir Topham's instructions that he was to make sure that he was out in the open air if he felt anything unusual happen to him. Reassured that he was prepared for the journey, he resolved to be alert and not to fall asleep until he was back in Tidmouth engine sheds that night, and settled back in his seat to enjoy the ride to Arlesburgh.

Half an hour later, Gerald was shaking Thomas' shoulder and calling out, _"Thomas, wake up! We're at the station!"_

"_Uuh... Whassmatter? Where am I?"_ mumbled Thomas.

"_You fell asleep,"_ said Gerald. _"We're at Arlesburgh. Come on, out you get, sleepyhead!"_

"_I-I-I'm so sorry, Sir. I didn't know that travelling inside a car was so comfortable. It's a good job I didn't change back into an engine, isn't it?"_

"_You're right, there, Thomas,"_ shuddered Gerald, thinking that the last thing he wanted was to be arguing for breathing space inside a car with a Billington E2-Class 0-6-0T locomotive. _Nope,_ he thought, _I don't want that by a long chalk!_

On entering the station master's office, Thomas was almost pushed back outside by the force of a black-haired, freckle-faced woman in a long, lilac and grey coat and red shoes running up to him and hugging him very tightly.

"_Oh, Thomas! I'm so glad to see you!"_ she blurted into his ear.

"_Rosie! Let go of me before we fall over!"_ he cried out.

One of the more recent engines to arrive on Sodor, Rosie had developed a fondness for Thomas that bordered almost on obsession before finally settling down to a more sedate pace. They had often worked together, helping each other in times of trouble, and Thomas, in turn, had become quite fond of her, including coming to her defence when another engine, Hector, had frightened her, making her run away. Right now, though, she was frightening him with the ferocity of her greeting.

Reluctantly, she released him from her arms and slowly stepped back, looking him up and down.

"_Ooh," _she cooed._ "I do like what I see!"_

"_You look, um, nice as well, Rosie,"_ Thomas nervously replied. _"H-h-how are you?"_

"_I'm better now that I've seen you,"_ she said, smiling coyly at him_. "Maybe you can take me with you back to Tidmouth. We could have so much fun together."_

"_Um...er...I think that Sir Topham wants you to stay here,"_ Thomas said to her_. "We don't know what's going to happen to us all yet, so, it's...er...better that everyone stays where they're supposed to be."_

"_Aww, Thomas! Don't be like that! Don't you want me to be with you?"_ pleaded Rosie.

"_Er...I can't right now, Rosie. Sir Topham has given me an important job to do, and I can't do it right if I get distracted. Look, I'll tell him that you want to come to Tidmouth and maybe he'll do something about it later. How's that?" _

"_Well, I suppose it'll have to do for now,"_ Rosie glumly replied. _"Promise me you won't forget to ask him, Thomas."_

"_I promise, and I think that I have to go now, isn't that right, Gerald, Sir?"_ Thomas looked over at the driver leaning back against the office wall, wondering why he had a smirk on his face.

"_Aye, Thomas, I think we have to go now, for your sake, if not for the lady's."_

Nodding to the equally amused station master, Gerald led Thomas out of the office, leaving behind a forlorn-looking Rosie whispering sweet nothings to the departing former engine's back.

"_What are you grinning for, Sir?"_ asked Thomas, still feeling embarrassed at Rosie's recent display of affection.

"_I thought you engines had grey faces, not red!"_ laughed Gerald, walking back to the taxi..

A short drive later, Thomas and Gerald walked up to the booking office of the Arlesburgh Miniature Railway and knocked at the entrance door.

"_Come in,"_ they heard a woman's shrill voice call.

Gerald opened the door and walked in, followed closely by Thomas, who looking around at everything he could see, becoming fascinated from the smallest thing such as a stapler and some pens on the woman's desk all the way to the scenic pictures of the Sodor countryside that were hanging on the walls.

"_What's that?"_ asked Thomas, suddenly pointing up to something hanging from the ceiling.

"_It's flypaper. It catches flies,"_ said Gerald. _"It's all right, Miss, he's just not used to seeing inside buildings,"_ he added, looking at the bemused woman sitting behind the desk. _"Sir Topham Hatt has sent us to check on the small engines to see that they're okay after what's happened on the island."_

"_I see,"_ she replied. _"My colleague, Wynford, has taken them to the village hall. It's just down the road. It's sign-posted so you can't miss it. He had such a shock when he went to open their shed this morning. He nearly had a heart attack when they all jumped up, calling to him. Why's this happened to them, and what's he doing with that sellotape?"_

Gerald heard a long, drawn-out ripping sound behind him and turned round to see that Thomas had found a sticky-tape dispenser on a nearby shelf, and had pulled quite a bit of the tacky material out of it. There was a look of horror on his face as he unsuccessfully tried to shake the sticky snake-like length that was hanging off his left glove, only managing to transfer it from that glove to his right and then back again to his left.

"_Ugh! It won't let go of me,"_ he moaned. _"What is it?"_

"_It's sticky-tape,"_ said Gerald, grinning at Thomas' predicament. _"It's used for sticking paper together and for putting posters on the wall. Here, let me..."_

Gerald pulled the tape off Thomas' glove and rolled it up into a small ball before tossing it into a waste bin in a corner of the room.

"_Come on, Thomas, let's go,"_ he said, then, grabbing hold of the blue-coated man and turning to open the door to leave_. "Thank you, er, Miss. We'll just check that all's well with them and then we'll be off. Have a nice day."_

A two-minute walk later and they were at the village hall. Gerald pushed open one of the arched twin-doors and stepped inside. _"Bloody Hell!"_ he quietly murmured.

"_What's the matter, Sir?"_ asked Thomas, craning his neck to look over Gerald's shoulder.

"_And I thought I'd seen everything,"_ muttered Gerald, as he walked forward to let Thomas enter behind him.

"_Ooh!"_ exclaimed Thomas. _"They're little people!"_

ooo

In the woods near Tidmouth Sheds, Henry found himself in yet another new world, but this time, he was glad for it. He'd been wandering about for over an hour, listening to the breeze gently rustling the few leaves that remained on the trees and the varied bird song that was filling the air, and he didn't want to ever leave. He wasn't even thinking of how things were for him now that he was no longer an engine, all he was doing was feeling and enjoying the calmness brought on by the multi-green shades of scattered conifers and the various brown hues of the tree trunks and branches and the wildlife surrounding him. He smiled as he watched a squirrel scampering along the forest floor before it rapidly clambered up to be hidden amongst the high branches. He bent down to pick up a fir cone from where it lay atop a carpet of brown and yellow autumn leaves and held it by his nose, not too bothered that he could only sense a faint smell to it, after all, there was nothing that he could really compare it too, considering that he'd not been able to smell anything at all before he woke up that morning.

After walking for about five minutes more, idly tossing the fir cone from one hand to another, he thought that he heard someone crying, and stopped for a moment to listen from what direction it was coming. He then turned to his left and made his way through the trees, looking around to see who and where the crying was coming from. He'd only gone a few yards when, as he passed a tree stump, he almost stepped on top of a young, grey-clad boy that was curled up on the ground, sobbing his heart out. As he stopped and knelt down next to the boy, he was surprised to see by the grey pallor of his face that he was one of the troublesome trucks. _Maybe he's crying because he's not a truck any more,_ thought Henry.

He placed his hand onto the boy's shoulder and gently shook it, saying soothingly, _"There, there! What's the matter, boy?"_

The crying youth, startled by the unexpected touch and voice, jerked quickly away and opened his tearful eyes.

"_Who-who are you?"_ he mumbled, drowsily.

"_It's me, Henry. Why are you crying, little one? Is it because you're upset after what's happened to you?"_

"_N-n-no. It-it's not that. It's worse. It-it's in my head!"_

"_What's in your head, lad? Have you fallen and got something stuck in it?"_

"_No. It's p-p-pictures. There's pic-pictures inside m-m-my head and they're hur-hurting me."_

"_I have pictures in my head sometimes, but they don't hurt me,"_ said Henry, stroking the boy's hair.

"_What sort of pictures are they?"_ he then asked, turning slightly to sit down on the leafy ground next to the boy.

"_They're d-d-dark. Like I'm in a t-t-tunnel, and then they...they hurt me."_

"_Who hurts you, little one?"_

"_I-I-I don't n-n-know! It's too dark for me to s-s-see. This has never happened t-t-to me before. When I was a t-t-truck and I fell asleep, everything went d-d-dark until I woke up. It didn't hurt me then."_

"_When I fall asleep,"_ said Henry, looking off into the distance, _"I see many pictures. I see pictures of things that I've done that day, and things I've been thinking about. I remember when I went to sleep after I'd been pulling the Flying Kipper for the first time and I saw pictures of lots of fish swimming in the air around me. It's called dreaming, and all the engines do it."_

Listening to Henry's quiet voice seemed to calm the boy down somewhat, and he slowly pushed himself up to lean back against the tree stump.

"_Us trucks don't do that," _he said, stopping his crying._ "We trucks only see black when we sleep. I don't like what's happened to me if my black is going to hurt me all the time."_

"_One good thing about what's happened to us,"_ said Henry, _"is that we can think a lot better now. When I was an engine, the feelings I used to have, when I was happy or angry, or even when I was sad, they were never as strong as what they are now. It's like...it's like seeing something new for the very first time. We engines have always had the feeling that we must complete our tasks, to get the job done and be really useful engines, and to do whatever Sir Topham tell us to do. _

"_Now, though, there's so much more going on inside my mind than just work, work, work. I...I can think of things that I don't think I've ever thought of before. My world has become so much bigger, and with all these new thoughts going on inside my head, and especially after the fight some of us steamies had with the diesels back at the station, I'm so glad that I can finally manage to get away from all that nasty thinking business and walk amongst all these trees. I really like trees. Trees don't argue all the time over who's better at doing a particular job, or play tricks on us because of something someone said that's been taken the wrong way. I still have that need to be useful and to get the job done, though, so do you want to tell me what you think is hurting you in your dreams, little one?"_

"_I-I-I can't! It's too frightening, and everytime I think of it, it upsets me and I start to cry. I feel so much sadder now than I did when I was a truck, and I don't like it. I-I-I wan-" _

"_I think,"_ said Henry, looking at the boy_, "that talking about it with someone can help. A difficult job that's shared is a job that's made half easy, as they say."_

"_Who says that?"_ the boy asked, looking up at the face of the former engine sitting in front of him.

"_Us engines say it to help us with our work,"_ Henry replied_._

"_Well," _said the unhappy boy,_ "this dream I'm having..."_

ooo

Tasked by Sir Topham with looking for wayward engines and rolling stock between Kirk Ronan and Vicarstown, Gordon found that he'd been doubting himself for no good reason. Once on their way in the taxi, he'd slowly lost his pomposity as the morning wore on, and had been entertaining Alan, the fitter that was travelling with him and the taxi-driver by telling them of the various escapades he'd been involved in over the years with the other engines. Alan, of course, knew the true dynamics of the stories, and had been adding the occasional extra detail or 'alternative' explanation for the sake of the confused driver of the Sodor-liveried London taxi-cab, Jock. Jock, whilst being amused by the large, ashen-faced man, hadn't understand why, for all how the storyteller had seemed rather erudite and accomplished in the English language, kept using the wrong personal pronouns to describe various deeds and actions that the engine had done, so much so that Jock would have sworn that the blue-coated man was pretending to have been the actual engine he was talking about. Mentally shrugging, he was totally unaware that it was actually an experimental prototype Class A0 Pacific 4-6-2 that was sitting behind him and, indeed, had actually done the things he'd talked about. Jock had reckoned that it was some sort of corporate-speak that railway officials with too much time on their hands had come up with to justify their inflated salaries. Ah well, he'd mused, payment for the day's work had been guaranteed by the boss of the railway station, and the fact that he hadn't had to sit and wait all day for punters to hire his cab had gone a long way to making him smile, and it was a sunny day as well, what more could he have asked for?

They drove through Suddery, and although James would be passing through there later that day, Alan suggested that they stop there to phone Brendam Station and the China Clay Works, where they found out that the station master at Brendam had already taken stock of the situation and reported his findings to Sir Topham's secretary not long ago. Alan was amused to hear that Salty had been found sitting on a mooring bollard at the quayside, joining in with the maritime stories a group of trawler-men were telling each other, and it had taken quite some time for the dockers to persuade him to go and sit in the dock manager's office, where one of the dockers was currently teaching him how to tie useful knots with a short length of rope. Surprisingly, Salty was picking them up in no time at all.

It had taken even longer for the rest of the dock workers to round up all the youths that had been found playing hide-and-seek amongst the stacked containers that were waiting to be loaded onto the ships and lorries. Two of the youths had even been racing each other by climbing up the tall dockside cranes, which had really annoyed Cranky, and if it hadn't been for one of Sir Topham's phone call earlier that morning, they would have been locked up in a cell at the local police station instead of inside a secure compound with the rest of the troublesome teenagers. One of the dockers had thrown a football over the top of the wire fence for them to have a game of soccer with instead of shouting and yelling to be let out.

Bill and Ben and the few trucks at the clay works were fine after their initial early-morning shock, and were now amusing the workers there with their cheery chatter. It seemed that the transformed trucks, when not in a large group, behaved themselves quite well, as though it wasn't until they reached a certain 'critical mass' that they developed a mob-mentality and start to cause chaos.

Edward, Gordon knew, was still on the mainland, and he was rather concerned for his old friend as it was quite possible that what had happened overnight on Sodor had happened there as well. Alan told Brendam's station master that he'd let James know what they'd done and then they left to go the small fishing-port of Kirk Ronan and then, afterwards, up the road to Rolf's Castle, one of the oldest settlements on the island. The station at Kellsthorpe Road, being only a small hamlet, was empty of rolling stock, just like the previous two stations, and then it was on to Crovan's Gate, where Gordon found something that really upset him.

Alan, having been there before and knowing where the exterior door to the works manager's office was, led Gordon inside, and together, they walked into a cacophony of sound and confusion. Wondering why loud sirens were doing their best to waken the dead, he called out to the manager of the locomotive repair works, _"WHAT'S GOING ON?"_

The manager, looking like a man with the weight of the world on his shoulders, replied incredulously, _ "YOU HEAR THAT WAILING NOISE AND YOU ASK ME WHAT'S GOING ON?"_

"_YES,"_ shouted Alan_. "IS IT AN EMERGENCY OR WHAT?"_

"_I THINK I KNOW WHAT IT IS, SIR"_ called out a worried-looking Gordon. Then, to the manager, he asked, _"PLEASE, SIR, WOULD YOU TAKE ME TO THEM?"_

The manager, having already been on the phone three times that day trying to get in touch with Sir Topham, only to be repeatedly told by his secretary that he was out for the morning, yelled back, _"YES, OF COURSE. FOLLOW ME."_

He led Gordon and Alan out of his office and along a short corridor until they reached a closed door. He pushed open the door and walked into the actual repair shed itself and the ever-present up-and-down wailing that they could hear suddenly increased into an intense caterwauling of tormented pain and anguish as though someone was being slowly torn apart in every direction, only it wasn't just one someone that was undergoing such an ordeal, but two, two engines that both Gordon and Alan immediately recognised.

One had the black, square body of a SR Bulleid Q1 that was rippling in a ghostly manner, and the other had the bright yellow of a GER Claud Hamilton 4-4-0, and both of the engines' bodies were currently interspersed with roiling black whiffs of smoke erupting from fractures in their boilers. Instantly, Alan and Gordon ran towards the two engines. It was Neville and Molly, and they seemed to be suffering some sort of hideous torture that was half-killing them judging by the loud wailing they were making. They both looked like they had been caught mid-change between engine and human, and Alan wondered if the two engines had been suffering their current torture since some time during the night. They were the only two engines he knew of so far with any mechanical resemblance to how they should normally look, but that resemblance was both disturbing and horrifying, especially to the audience of concerned workers that had been striving all morning to attend to the two distressed engines. Seeing them both in the state they were, Gordon was torn between choosing which engine to run to first.

Neville, acquired by Sir Topham in 1964 when he'd been scheduled for scrapping, hadn't had a good start to his new life on Sodor, being undeservedly labelled as a troublemaker by the steamies due to his unusually square boiler that made them first think that he was a diesel. The mistake had been resolved in due course and the newcomer was found to be enthusiastic, friendly, and always ready to help out the other engines. Now, though, it was he that needed help, but Molly was suffering just as much as Neville.

Her arrival on the island wasn't well received, either, as she was mocked by Emily for being given the task of pulling empty wagons. Molly was an easily-upset engine, and Thomas, being an engine that always tried to do the right thing, decided to help her, and apparently succeeded once again by decorating the empty wagons to make them look like they were carrying important freight and making Molly feel better, but like so many of Thomas' ill-thought ideas, it ended in disaster when the tarpaulins he'd used were blown off by the wind and Molly had run off upset, causing confusion and delay when the other engines were left waiting for the trucks she was supposed to deliver to them. It was terrible, thought Gordon, that such a sensitive and delicately-minded engine like her should endure what she was going through right now.

"_ALAN,"_ he called out loudly, looking the fitter in the eyes._ "YOU'LL HAVE TO GO ON WITHOUT ME. I JUST CAN'T LEAVE THEM HERE LIKE THIS."_ Then, turning to the works manager, he asked, _"DOES SIR TOPHAM KNOW ABOUT THEM?"_

"_HE'S OUT SOMEWHERE," _the manager shouted back, "_BUT I'VE LEFT ENOUGH MESSAGES FOR HIM. NOTHING WE DO SEEMS TO HELP! WE CAN'T TALK TO THEM, THEY JUST CARRY ON WAILING. DO YOU KNOW OF ANYTHING, GORDON? ANYTHING AT ALL THAT WE CAN DO FOR THEM?"_

"_NO, I DON'T,"_ Gordon sadly replied, his concern quite apparent to the other men around him despite the loud cries from the two stricken engines. _"ALL I CAN DO IS TO BE HERE FOR THEM. MAYBE THEY CAN HEAR OR SENSE THAT A FRIEND IS NEARBY. WHY DIDN'T THEY CHANGE LIKE THE REST OF US?"_

"_THE ONLY THING SIR TOPHAM'S SECRETARY TOLD ME WAS THAT SOMETHING HAS CAUSED YOU ALL TO CHANGE INTO HUMANS OVERNIGHT. I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT COULD HAVE DONE THAT, OTHER THAN LADY'S MAGIC FAILING. IT RAISES OBVIOUS CONCERNS. I MEAN, WHAT'S HAPPENED TO ALL YOUR METALWORK? WHERE'S IT GONE, AND HOW CAN IT HAVE TURNED TO FLESH AND BLOOD, ANYWAY?"_

"_I DON'T KNOW,"_ replied Gordon._ "ALL I KNOW IS THAT I'M MORE AWARE OF THINGS AROUND ME AND INSIDE MY HEAD. I'M THINKING THINGS THAT SEEM NEW TO ME, BUT THERE'S SOMETHING ELSE AS WELL. I DON'T KNOW WHAT THAT IS YET, OR IF I EVEN KNOW WHAT IT'S CALLED, BUT IT SEEMS AS THOUGH SOMETHING IS TRYING TO CONNECT TO ME. A PART OF ME THAT'S MISSING. THAT'S ALL I CAN THINK OF HOW TO DESCRIBE IT."_

"_MAYBE IT'S YOUR MISSING BODY, HELD SOMEWHERE OR SOMEHOW BY THE RAILWAY MAGIC, BUT THAT STILL DOESN'T EXPLAIN WHY YOU'VE GOT A HUMAN BODY NOW." _

"_WHAT'S MORE,"_ replied Gordon, _"IS THAT NONE OF US CAN REMOVE THIS CLOTHING WE'VE GOT. LOOK..."_

Gordon tried to remove his gloves, only to again acknowledge the fact that they were still stuck fast to his hands. He tried to undo the buttons of his coat but they still held fast as though they were merely ornamental.

"_HERE, LET ME TRY,"_ the manager called out, reaching for one of the lower buttons, only to find that it was like trying to pull a rivet out of a metal plate with just his fingers. _"IT WON'T BUDGE!"_ he exclaimed in surprise.

He then knelt down in front of Gordon and tried to undo his shoe laces, only to find that it was like trying to rip apart wrought ironwork with his bare hands.

"_IT'S NO GOOD,"_ he admitted, shaking his head in defeat. _"IT'S LIKE YOU'RE ALL IN ONE PIECE WITH EVERYTHING STUCK TOGETHER. I JUST DON'T KNOW WHAT ELSE TO SAY."_

"_ENOUGH ABOUT ME FOR NOW,"_ shouted a worried Gordon._ "IT'S THESE TWO WE NEED TO SEE TO." _

Gordon, for no other reason than it seemed the right thing to do, went to stand in front of Molly, placing his hands on the edge of one of her buffers and look up at her terror-filled eyes as her face contorted in pain and despair, morphing every few seconds from soft flesh face to the hard metal of her smokebox door that corresponded to the quieter tone of her siren-like cry. Her eyes, when they were present, that is, spoke of indescribable agony accompanied by the increase in her screams. Gordon felt his eyes beginning to water and tears of sadness started running down his cheeks.

"_MOLLY!"_ he shouted. _"IT'S ME, GORDON! CAN YOU HEAR ME?"_

_~GOR...GOR...GOR...DON...DON'T...TOUCH...ME...HUR...HURTS...SO...MUCH...CA...CA...CAN'T...CAN'T...AAAAAAAAHHHEEEEEE...~ _

Suddenly, Gordon felt the hard metal buffer under his hands vibrate as Molly's body started to tremble as the clouds of black smoke venting out from ruptures in her bodywork increased their pace, soon filling the air around the wailing engine. The workers standing near Molly started to back away in alarm, not knowing what the smoke would do to them if they breathed more of it in. Gordon held on as tightly as he could, concern for the engine giving him extra strength as the trembling and vibration increased even more. The black smoke was making his eyes sore and he blinked furiously to clear his vision. His chest started aching and he coughed violently, ignoring desperate calls from the works manager and the other men for him to come away from her. His vision blackened and, if he wasn't holding on to Molly's buffers as tight as he was, he'd have fallen to his knees in front of her as a wave of dizziness swept through him. He felt hands grabbing under his arms from behind, supporting him as he struggled to stand upright. The arms were trying to pull him away from the stricken Molly, but he resisted as much as he could, gripping tighter onto the edge of her buffer.

The rents in Molly's boiler were repeatedly closing up and re-opening like mouths silently shouting in anger, and her once bright-yellow paintwork was now beginning to fade to a dirty grey, and her eyes were rolling around as though she was trying to see in more than one direction at once, making her look cross-eyed. Neville was wailing and screaming in concert with Molly as though as the two engines had previously decided to perform a duet of nightmarish proportions more suitable to some Lovecraftian horror film. The rents in his bodywork, though, were much harder to see against his black paintwork, and it took several seconds before anyone noticed a new torture starting its affliction upon him as several more lacerations appeared on his boiler, which made more than one of the despairing workers think that the engine was being slashed by an invisible demon wielding a knife of demonic strength and sharpness. The two engines' ordeal seemed to be never-ending, when suddenly, Molly fell silent.

"_GORDON!"_ the works manager suddenly shouted. _"SHE'S DYING! COME AWAY NOW!_

"_NO! I CAN HELP HER"_ cried Gordon, desperately. _"MOLLY! LISTEN TO ME. FIGHT IT, MOLLY, FIGHT IT!"_

"_IT'S TOO LATE, GORDON!"_ the manager again cried. _"LOOK AT HER FACE!"_

Gordon, already staring at Molly's face in its impermanent transition, could only watch in anguish as her eyes ceased their rolling about and slowly turned to look downwards, loosing their whiteness and fading to the grey of her skin, and he thought that she was looking at him, but then her eyelids closed, and stayed shut as a sudden, loud whoosh startled the crowd of engineers and workmen. Clouds of what looked like black steam erupted from all of her vents at once, surrounding everyone in a cloud of dark wetness that, for a few seconds, pushed away the black smoke that was hanging above them like foreboding thunderheads of doom.

"_NOOOoooo..."_ cried Gordon, letting go of Molly's buffer as he staggered back a few feet, but there was nothing he or anyone else could do as they watched Molly's grey face relaxed in death before fading away to be replaced by the smokebox door of her boiler. Her all-over yellow paintwork that had made her stand out so spectacularly as she speedily travelled across the green pastures of Sodor, what remained of it, was now marred by a random patchwork of black and grey blotches, and her brutal passing away only marked by even louder wailing from Neville as he, too, began to shake and tremble.

Amidst the deafening sound of Neville's wailing, Gordon sank with a loud cry onto his hands and knees.

"_I-I-I'm b-b-burning up...inside me,"_ he quietly moaned. Sweat was dripping off his forehead and onto the concrete floor below him_. "I'm so hot...Thirsty! I-I need water..."_ then he fell onto his side and started shaking as though he was having an epileptic seizure. More out of reflex than anything else, the works manager quickly knelt over him and, turning to one of the engineers that he knew had taken a regular first-aid course to comply with safety regulations, called out, _"DENNIS! HELP ME HERE, QUICK!"_

Dennis almost leapt to where Gordon was lying on the factory floor. Knowing of the tall man's former status, but not knowing how his body truly worked now that he was human, all he could think to do was to force Gordon onto his back and unbutton his coat to help him cool down. The works manager was panicking slightly as he, too, had no idea what was happening to Gordon, and the memory of his earlier failed attempt to open his coat buttons only returned when he saw a grey undergarment being revealed as, one by one, the buttons of Gordon's long leather coat came undone as a result of Dennis' deft handiwork.

"_I TRIED THAT JUST NOW AND I COULDN'T DO IT,"_ he shouted, puzzled with this sudden change.

"_WELL, THEY'RE COMING LOOSE NOW,"_ Dennis loudly replied, then to one of his workmates, he shouted, _"GET ME SOME WATER! QUICKLY!"_

With Gordon's blue coat now fully open, they could all see that the grey undergarment completely covering the top part of his body. Dennis started undoing the buttons that ran along the front of it and, once the buttons from under Gordon's chin down to his navel were open, he looked over to the two workers still standing nearby and, remembering from when he'd helped support Gordon when he nearly fainted, yelled, _"PUT YOUR ARMS UNDERNEATH HIS SHOULDERS AND SIT HIM UP. WATCH OUT, THOUGH, HE WEIGHS A TON!"_

The two men did as ordered and Dennis began to pull Gordon's coat and undergarment down over shoulders when, all of a sudden, he stopped. Leaning back slightly to get a better look, he cried out, _"HOLY MOTHER OF GOD! WHAT THE HELL IS ALL THAT?"_

On every bit of skin that had been made visible by Dennis pulling back the garments covering Gordon's chest, and looking as though they had been burnt onto his body with a branding iron, were a multitude of strange and weird-looking sigils and symbols that each of the shocked men assumed had something to do with the occult, and several of the raised scars were leaking something that was too dark to be blood. The works manager stepped backwards in alarm. Never in his life had he ever seen anything like that before. If anything like that had been done to a normal human being, he thought, it would have killed him, but this wasn't a normal human being, though. Mouth open in horror at what he was seeing, he turned and ran to his office. He had to speak with Sir Topham straight away, wherever he was.

ooOOoo


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9 

Sir Topham excused himself to look through some more of his father's old notes, while Peregrine invited Jeanie out onto the balcony so that they wouldn't distract him, considering the serious nature of the information his two ancestors had been left for him. Once out on the balcony, it was tacitly agreed that they would leave any discussion of what they'd seen on the film reels and the experience that Jeanie had gone through with Lady until Sir Topham was ready to take their meeting further. Instead, they passed the time with some small talk and, with Jeanie being Sodor Railway's newest employee, Peregrine begged leave of her to ask a few personal questions, not only in order to get better acquainted with her, but to try and distract her from asking questions of which he had no answers.

She was twenty-four and her sister, Gemma, lived in Knapford, which was where she'd been heading when she was stopped on the road by Toby that morning. She was, actually, her half-sister through Jeanie's father's first marriage, and was six years older than her elder brother, who was two year older than her. She also had a younger brother, and Peregrine chuckled at Jeanie's confession that she'd often felt 'sandwiched' between brothers as the three of them grew up, which led to her developing a strong friendship with her half-sister to act as an escape from her 'confinement'. This feeling of being 'hemmed-in' was the main reason why she moved into a flat in Elsbridge with two female friends after she graduated from Preston University.

Her older brother was an assistant manager in a retail store and her younger brother was still in college on a sports fitness course, whilst she was hoping to find a job that involved interior design work, but wasn't having much luck, until today, that is. She laughed as she admitted that she didn't really see herself doing a 'Personal Assistant' type of job, and if she buggered up whatever it was Sir Topham wanted her to do, she added, he may have her painting the insides of the railway stations' waiting rooms and toilets instead! She was twenty-four years old, she told Mr. Percival, who requested that she not be so formal and that she could call him Peregrine from now on. She and her friends had even ridden on one of the trains that worked on the branch line near her flat, she said, but never had she ever imagined that one day she'd end up actually working for the railways themselves.

Her brief enthusiasm suddenly turned sour as the enormity of what she was now involved in began to sink in, and she looked quite down-hearted all of a sudden. _Maybe, _she thought to herself, _I was stupid to listen to him when he offered me that job. Oh, my god, what have I done?_ and feeling as though she'd really like to just cry with remorse at her hasty decision-making and the mess she was now in, she confessed to Peregrine, _"Despite...despite that 'thing' that happened with me and Lady and the trust that Sir Topham's placed in me, like allowing me to be part of all this...this magic railway stuff, I still feel I don't really belong here. I don't think I'll be of much use to him at all. I...I just want to get away from here!" _

Peregrine looked at the upset young woman as she leant back against the corner of the door recess, nervously playing with her fingers and occasionally sniffing back what he believed were possibly tears that she didn't want him to see. He felt that commiserating her on her unexpected entrance into the magic railways wasn't quite the right way to go about consoling her, and decided that simply telling her the truth would be better. He could well understand what it felt like to be suddenly removed from one's comfort-zone and thrust into a totally new and unfamiliar experience. How the conversation went from there, he'd have to see how it goes.

"_Miss Watkins...may I call you Jeanie?" _he started, injecting some cheerfulness into his voice, then continuing at her nod. _"It was about the only way it could have gone after your 'unexpected' arrival, though I had to stop myself from laughing out loud when Sir Topham turned his head and swore!"_

He chortled as Jeanie gave a choked snort when she heard those words. _"And then, when you took charge and demanded to know what the hell was going on, well, that was the icing on the cake! Between you and me, I've never seen him quite so lost for something to say! There, that's better!" _he offered, seeing her smile as she wiped the back of her knuckles across her tearing eyes.

"_That was the reason I suggested he employ you, you know?"_ he said to her.

"_Oh! Why...why was that?"_ Jeanie sniffled, looking over at Peregrine curiously.

"_Personally, I've never known a time when someone has come so close to finding out about the magical railways as you did. I remember my own introduction as though it was yesterday. I'd passed my accountancy exams and applied for a job being offered at the quarry for an accounts assistant. It was the ideal opportunity for me, fresh out of university and raring to go. I passed the job interview and turned up for my first day at work the following Monday, only to be met by Sir Topham himself. I thought that he'd come all the way there to apologise to me and say that I hadn't actually got the job and that there'd been a terrible mistake. Boy, was I wrong! _

"_He put his arm around my shoulder and said to me, 'Young Peregrine, I'll be introducing you to some of your new colleagues soon, but let's get some necessary paperwork out of the way first, eh?'. Well, I was really nervous at the time, what with it being my first day and all and not knowing anybody, so I said, 'Yes, Sir Topham', and he pulled out a folded sheet of paper from inside his coat and said that I was to read it and if I was happy with it, then I was to sign it and then he would introduce me to Sir Handel. I thought, 'Blimey!' another 'Sir'! I felt so inadequate amongst all these important people! Then, all of a sudden as we walked along one of the railway lines that led to the quarry works itself, he loudly called out, 'Sir Handel, come here and meet Mr. Percival. He's starting work here today.'"_

Pleased to see that Jeanie was looking more herself, he continued with his story. "_You should have seen my face when the engine started moving towards us as we were walking along the same track it was on. 'Sir Topham,' I said, feeling nervous, 'we'd better get off the track or that train is going to hit us.', but all Sir Topham did was to smile at me and carry on walking towards this approaching engine. I was slowing down and looking back and forth from the engine to Sir Topham and then he said, 'Is something the matter, Percival?'. _

_All I could do was to stare open-mouthed at him. I didn't know what to say, of course there was something the matter; there was a bloody steam engine heading right towards us! Then, as I was gaping at Sir Topham. I heard a voice behind me say, 'He doesn't look strong enough to be working with heavy tools, Sir Topham!' I turned round and, to be honest, nearly shit myself, if you'll pardon the expression. There, looking at me, were the two biggest eyes I'd ever seen in my life, and they were on a bloody steam engine! What's more, this engine had an actual bloody face as well! Well, as you can imagine, I didn't do much work THAT day, I can tell you! _

"_So, you see, Jeanie, everyone that works for the Sodor Railways has to meet the trains on their first day at work, and just like you, we're all human and we all have our doubts and fears and bad times. Even Sir Topham had to meet his first talking train at some point in his life. What you'll find, though, is that you'll go through phases of doubt and disbelief, but they'll disappear soon, as they did with me."_

"_What about those that can't handle it?"_ asked Jeanie, thinking that there must have been _somebody_ that couldn't accept what they saw and wanted to resign straight away.

"_With those that reacted badly,"_ said Peregrine, _"Sir Topham would take them to one side, say, the station café or his office if they were in Knapford, and he'd rip up the sheet of paper they'd signed right in front of them there and then, ending the hold the railway magic had on them, except for the confidentiality bit. If you remember, he explained that when the both of you were discussing the job offer?"_

"_Yes, I remember."_

"_Well, that's exactly how it works. The railway magic on Sodor starts its effect on someone the moment they sign that confidentiality agreement, and ends the moment it gets destroyed by whoever has the authority to employ new staff."_

"_Do YOU have that authority?" _Jeanie asked him.

"_There's four of us that can employ staff without having to go through Sir Topham first. There's myself as Quarry Manager, Dick Robbins, the manager of the scrapworks, Sam Browning at the dieselworks, where they repair the diesels, and Lawrence Harrington, the manager of the steamworks, where the steamies are repaired. Old Wynford at the miniature railway in Arlesburgh and all the other stationmasters on Sodor have to recommend potential staff to Sir Topham for his approval first. You have to understand, Jeanie, the fact that the trains are sentient has been kept a secret since it all started, just as we saw on those old films in there."_ Peregrine gestured with his head at the terrace doors on his right._ He hasn't told you of the other 'magics' here on Sodor yet, I take it?"_

"_Other magics?"_ asked Jeanie, incredulously. _"You mean...it's not just the railway that has magic? When...when I was told about what's-his-name, Bert the Bus by Toby this morning, and after finding out that Lady controls the this magic, I...I thought that was it!"_

"_You mean 'Bertie the Bus',"_ corrected Peregrine, _"Jeanie, here on Sodor there are sentient buses, lorries, and construction vehicles that you will be able to communicate with as well as the trains. There's even aircraft, believe it or not, but Lady has nothing to do with any of them, though. They're controlled by other magical...vehicles somewhere on the mainland."_

"_Yeah, Bertie. Wow. You know, when Toby pointed him out to me, I thought he was off his rocker or something. Now, I feel as though I'M the one going off their rocker. It...it must be hard not to let other people know about all this, yeah?"_

"_Sometimes, we offer part-time jobs to our family members and friends just to take some of the strain away from us, otherwise it would feel wrong to go home to one's wife or husband and not tell them certain things. It would be like living a lie, keeping such a massive secret to oneself."_

"_I...I can imagine,"_ said Jeanie, still trying to accept the enormity of this new world she found herself in.

"_That puzzles me," _said Peregrine._ "I wonder what it was that allowed Toby to do that. Sir Topham told me of what had happened to him, Henrietta and Burnett, so I suppose that with Burnett's need to save Lady, the railway magic must have allowed Toby to give you that knowledge, after all, we now know that Lady was still able to communicate with the Sodor magic, as she did with you earlier, so maybe she was able to maintain a link between herself and Burnett and believed that you had a part to play in all this. It's an idea you may want to think about, Jeanie. Anyway, going back to the reason I suggested Sir Topham employ you..." _

Peregrine then explained that he'd had a flash of inspiration, believing that Jeanie, being introduced to the magical railways so suddenly, would be able to help the former engines with their own sudden introduction to humanity, for she would be experiencing something very similar to them. Sir Topham had agreed, and hoped that she could use the learning experience she would be going through to help anticipate any potential needs that the former engines may have to help resolve any problems that might arise.

Now, feeling she had a much better grasp of the sort of things she could do for Sir Topham, Jeanie felt somewhat relieved, and thanked Peregrine for explaining it in the way he did, as she thought Sir Topham hadn't really been clear enough in what he actually needed from her. She felt as though a great weight had been lifted off her shoulders and the tightness in her chest disappeared, and she resolved to ask Sir Topham if she could talk again with Toby and Henrietta now that she had a better understanding of the two elderly peo-, former trains.

Seeing Peregrine Percival for the very first time that morning had made Jeanie think of a bank manager when she'd noticed his bowler hat and briefcase, and he grinned at her when he told that he'd actually started working at the quarry as an accountant some twenty-odd years ago. He'd become the actual quarry manager and controller of the narrow-gauge railway when the former incumbent retired at sixty-five, just over ten years ago.

At first, the responsibility of looking after the engines as well as the commercial side of the quarry had been quite daunting to him, but Sir Topham had taken him under his wing, so to speak, and taught him the basics of railway engineering. Since then, he'd taken a course in Systems Engineering on the mainland and applied his new learning to make a success of his job. He'd also learned a lot through his own mistakes, he'd admitted with a few chuckles, mistakes that made him laugh even louder as he recalled some of the funniest ones he had made. Often, he told Jeanie, he would occasionally chat with the quarry engines to find out what sort of work they did that caused problems, as his belief was that if the person in charge knew of the small problems, then he could do something to ensure that they didn't grow into big problems.

Jeanie asked him to tell her something about the engines he worked with, and Peregrine obliged, and told her of how the narrow-gauge engine, Rheneas, had managed to pull a full train home one rainy day despite his small size and having jammed valve gear at the time. He'd just started to explain the different personalities that made up the collection of quarry engines when Sir Topham opened one of the terrace doors and asked them to come back into the study. A cool breeze had picked up outside only minutes before so they both considered this as a timely intervention. As they re-entered the study, they noticed that the butler had also returned, bringing another trolley with some fresh tea on it, and was exchanging it for away the trolley that he'd brought their lunch in on earlier. Sir Topham sat back doen at his desk and looked at both Peregrine and Jeanie.

"_Well,"_ he said, _"I've found something that may be of interest to us regarding the engines' present...difficulties, though I'm not quite sure of its full import as of yet. It may be able to help us put things right again,"_ he stated, quite solemnly, _"or it may end up being of no use to us at all, and I won't know which until I have an opportunity later to take a proper look at it." _

"_From what I've learnt in one of the letters from my father, though,"_ he continued, _"there's no fear of the trains suddenly changing back to, well, trains again, and surprising everyone with their sudden appearance in the oddest of places."_

"_How does you know that, Sir?"_ Peregrine asked him.

"_According to the notes that my grandfather left,"_ said Sir Topham, picking up a sheet of paper in his left hand and waving it above the desk, _"a ritual was carried out to give the steam engines a measure of sentience. A ritual that was translated, my grandfather was told by one of his business partners, from a carved stone tablet found in a private collection somewhere in the south of England nearly three hundred years ago. Allegedly, the carvings dated back to about three thousand, six-hundred years ago, and were in some form of hieroglyphics rumoured to have been of European descent, and nothing at all like those of the Ancient Egyptians. I've looked through all the paperwork that was in the trunk, and I can't find any other mention of them, so I'll be making a more detailed check through them when I come home tonight."_

"_The Romans were in Britain in those days, weren't they?" _Jeanie asked Sir Topham.

"_I've no idea," _he replied. _"I was never very good with history at school, engineering was my forte. Anyway, this is what it says..."_

But as Peregrine was about to tell Jeanie that the Romans came to Britain in the first century AD, Sir Topham started speaking...

'_Great Darkness strikes down the Pure One. She is stricken by the Destroyer. The Pure One shall not this time take of the Birth Water, She to drink of the Mother herself. Eternal is the Well of the Mother, Eternal is the Product of Her Well. The Winged Beast, born the way of the bird but not of the bird. He that possess the Coat of Blood, Pure is his Song. He to eat/overcome(?) – unknown glyph, T.H. – and The Burning Rock. Sacred is He that devours. She shall breathe the Spirit of Life anew.' _

"_It sounds more like something from a Harry Potter book to me,"_ said Jeanie.

"_I prefer to see it as a recipe for a possible cure rather than that, Jeanie. You've been reading too many fantasy books, my girl!"_ laughed Sir Topham. _"Unlike Harry Potter, though, all this is for real, which brings me to something I want to ask you."_

"_What do you mean, Sir Topham?"_ asked Jeanie, slightly apprehensive.

"_You remember when we were in the hospital earlier and Toby mentioned that you told him that you knew all about him?_

"_Yes,"_ she replied. _"Why?"_

"_What did you mean when you said that?" _

"_Well, I was thinking, going by what he was saying in the car, that they were all some sort of new age travellers, like gypsies or something, not actual trains travelling about on railway lines."_

"_I see,"_ smiled Sir Topham. _"No wonder he thought that you knew what he really was!"_

Jeanie chuckled, remembering the elderly man's excitement as he was telling her his tale.

"_Um, Sir Topham..." _she queried, _"Peregrine, sorry, Mr. Percival told me about only railway staff knowing about and seeing the engines' faces?"_

"_Yes,"_ said Sir Topham, _"that's quite correct. What was it you wanted to know?"_

"_Why would he tell ME about talking trains when I had nothing to do with the magic railways?"_

Sir Topham hummed for a moment, thinking about that.

"_Jeanie,"_ he said, _"you've got me there, though I would think that it has to do with filling roles. Even I didn't know about them until my father introduced me to the engines when I was a teenager, correctly guessing that I wanted to be involved with them when I grew older, and believe me, it was quite a shock to the system, I can tell you! He explained to me that it was a real, actual 'magic' that allowed sentience to be created in not only the steam engines of days gone by, but also the coaches, trucks and various wagons that were made, even the diesels that were becoming more common back then. _

"_To the general public, they look just like ordinary trains, just as you've always seen them, but my father told me that the 'magic' that created the engines bound the secret to whomever was told about them. That authority, or 'power', to introduce newcomers to the 'magic' railways was granted to a very select few, which included my grandfather when he was a young engineer in the early twentieth century. That ability was passed on to my father when he was old enough to understand, and he passed it to me. _

_Over the years since I found out about it, and as the railways on Sodor became more complicated, I felt it right to allow certain others to be able to pass on the secret, such as Peregrine...that's got to be it! Burnett has that authority as well! Yes, he told me in the hospital that he felt his connection with Lady break in the ambulance. He, or Lady, must have done something that allowed Toby to tell you. Yes, that must be it. I can't thin of any other way he could have told you." _

Sir Topham gestured towards the thin man sitting the other side of his desk,_ "I myself have given that authority to a few others here on Sodor. It has to be that, for I will eventually pass the secret on to my son, Richard, if and when he tells me that he wants to be involved with Sodor's railways."_

"_I know I should think myself very fortunate to be told all this,"_ said Jeanie, _"but isn't it like some form of mental control over people, this secret-keeping and...and bestowing of authority?"_

Sir Topham raised an eyebrow questioningly at that, and countered, _"Supposing the public knew that their car or clock or...even their dustbin could be made to talk back to them, what do you think their reaction would be? Bear in mind, first, Jeanie, that the awareness that the engines have is only marginally greater than the rest of the rolling stock, and even THAT is at the level of an innocent eight-year old child or so, and that's throughout the train's existence. One last thing before you decide whether it's right or wrong...I know for a fact that the people behind the various 'magics', whoever they are nowadays, they keep this secret away even from the government. I can only assume it's because these people may have thought twice about sending the equivalent of eight-year old children to war."_

Jeanie considered what she knew of people and the government in general. Although there would be demands that the process or whatever it was be stopped, there would probably be an even greater demand that they, too, be allowed to share in it. The potential for likely abuse and pain towards the equivalent of millions of pseudo-children that people in their ignorance would demand be made available to them appalled her. The thought of children killing each other, even though they would maybe be in the form of tanks and such was horrifying, and although she felt awkward at having been made complicit in what had already been done in the name of the magic railways, she could still see the logic in what Sir Topham had told her. Now that she was part of all that, and having already met two former trains, Toby and Henrietta, her own desire to actually speak with an actual engine, once it was able to return safely to Sodor, overwhelmed the guilt she thought she ought to be feeling on behalf of those innocent minds, but wasn't.

Jeanie gently shook her head, wondering at her own sanity as she finally accepted what Sir Topham had told her was the truth. Not only that, but since signing her employment contract, she'd decided that she needn't bother having it checked over by a lawyer, and as an increasing sense of loyalty to Sir Topham developed inside her, she wondered where her earlier lack of self-confidence had come from. _It shouldn't be like this,_ a small voice inside her whispered, but she didn't really pay much attention to it. Her thoughts were brought back to the present by Sir Topham saying that he really should be getting back to Knapford Station to check for any further developments with the former engines. Three of them had been sent out on special tasks and he needed to see them when they returned.

It took Sir Topham five minutes to carefully repack the box's contents and put everything back into the large trunk, leaving the screen and projector where they were for when he returned home later that night. Jeanie remained seated, thinking of the fantastic event she'd seen on the old films. She realised that what they'd all seen was very important and personal to Sir Topham as it showed the actual creation of a sentient engine. It was something that, as he'd told Peregrine and herself, he'd never had an opportunity to see for himself.

Sir Topham finished off by tucking the rolled up translation into a pocket inside his coat, saying to both Peregrine and Jeanie, _"The usual Company Matters Protocol applies to what we've seen and discussed today. Peregrine, I already know you'll do your best when it comes to dealing with the narrow-gauges, but I wish you good luck, all the same. Once I feel there's a solution in sight, I'll let you know and we can plan further. I know it'll take a couple of hours for you to get back to the quarry, and I wish I could take you back there with the whistle, but I feel it more prudent to conserve the majority of the sparkle for when I get a chance to go and check on Lady."_

"_It's no problem, Sir Topham, the drive back will give me some time to take in what we've already found out."_

"_Excellent, Peregrine. Drive safely."_

"_Thank you, and goodbye, Sir Topham," _he replied, shaking Sir Topham's offered hand, _"and goodbye to you, too, Miss Watkins...Jeanie. It was a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Until the next time..."_

"_And you too, Mr. Per-, Peregrine,"_ she said back, smiling at the thin man. _"See you again, one day."_

After stepping out through the two large entrance doors to Hatt Hall and seeing Mr Percival off on his journey back to the quarry and the former narrow-gauge engines, Sir Topham said to Jeanie, _"We'll be leaving for Knapford Station very soon, so if you wish, I can arrange for one of the engine drivers to collect your car from St. Tibba's. He can either take there for you, or he can bring it here if you'd care to stay here tonight for dinner, as my guest. We can look at that translation to see if it'll give us a clue to how we can save Lady. He'll be told to be extra careful with it, so you needn't worry about it being bumped or scraped."_

"_Thank you for the offer, Sir Topham,"_ replied Jeanie, _"but I'll have to speak with my sister first to see what she thinks. We were going to spend a few days together, but now, with this job and what-have-you, I don't know what to do."_

"_Well,"_ said Sir Topham, _"give her a ring when we get to Knapford and see what she says. It's entirely up to you, though, but I would appreciate whatever help I can get with all of this."_

"_I'll see what she says and let you know,"_ Jeanie replied, then asked, _"Um, Sir Topham, I hope the clothes I'm wearing will be alright to work in? My others are still in the boot of my car."_

"_Apart from the trainers, they'll do just fine for now,"_ her new employer said as he looked his new personal assistant up and down. Her denim jeans and brown suede waistcoat were by no means suitable, but they would have to do until she could get hold of something more formal. There may be a spare Company blazer somewhere at Knapford she could wear, he thought. _"Although there are no trains running right now,_ _I'll have Debra at Knapford sort out protective footwear for you. Non-slip shoes with steel toe-caps will offer you much more protection than what you're wearing at the moment, after all, I wouldn't want you to have an accident on your first day, would I?"_ chuckled Sir Topham.

"_That's much appreciated, Sir Topham,"_ she said, smiling. _"I don't fancy getting oil or something on my trainers. I can't afford to get a new pair yet."_

"_You'll be able to treat yourself when you get your first pay-cheque," _ chuckled Sir Topham.

"_Yes, as long as you think I'll be any good doing this job," _ Jeanie said, trying to gauge Sir Topham's expectations of her.

"_I'm sure you'll do just fine, Jeanie,"_ he said. _"You seem to be coping so far, yes?"_

"_I think so, Sir Topham, but time'll tell, won't it?"_

"_At least it won't be a surprise for you this time,"_ Sir Topham responded.

"_What do you mean?"_ she asked, confused at the change of subject.

"_Travelling to Knapford by sparkle,"_ said Sir Topham._ "I'll use the whistle to take us to the station, seeing as I don't have the use of Harold at the moment. It won't use that much to take us there."_

"_Harold?"_ puzzled Jeanie.

"_The helicopter,"_ replied Sir Topham.

Jeanie closed her eyes for a few, silent moments. _There is just SO much I've got to get used to now,_ she thought to herself_. I'm going to make a right fool of myself, I just know it!_

"_It takes a while for everything to sink in,"_ said Sir Topham, smiling gently as he acknowledged her confused state of mind.

"_You should have seen my face when my father told me of the talking engines for the very first time,"_ he chuckled softly. _"I was fourteen at the time, and when a face suddenly appeared on the front of one the engine and said hello to me, I felt like it was Christmas all over again, and every day after that it felt just the same. My father never really explained how the trains were alive, just that they were, and that was all I was told, apart from it all being a secret I had to keep. I felt so special when he told me that though, but one day, I went to tell my best friend in school and he just laughed at me when my words kept getting mixed up and came out as nonsense. _

"_Still determined to share this great secret I had, I took him to the sidings to prove that the trains could really talk, but they didn't. I couldn't even see their faces. I felt so foolish and I thought it was all a dream or a joke that my father was playing on me. When my friend ran off, laughing, that was when one of the small tank engines finally showed his face and reminded me that secrets are meant to be kept. _

_As I grew older, I realised that it was only the people that worked on the railways that could talk to the trains, and that made me more determined than ever that I learn as much as I could about running them and one day taking over after my father. He'd always loved the railways, ever since his own father had introduced him to the magic, and...and I had become just as enthralled by it as they'd both been, and now you, too, Jeanie, will become just as enthralled."_

"_What do you mean 'enthralled'?"_ she asked, looking slightly worried.

"_The magic is a harsh mistress, Jeanie. It will not let go of you until you either reach retiring age, get fired, or die in service. Whatever the reason, you will still be unable to reveal its secret. It will drive you to fulfil the tasks you are set no matter the nature or size of any obstacle you may meet. Failure to do the task brings great disappointment and shame, which many of the engines on Sodor have already experienced, but they still endeavour to persevere, as they say."_

"_Who was it?"_ asked Jeanie, not fully realising the significance of Sir Topham's words.

"_Who what? Who said those words?"_

"_No, the engine that first spoke to you. Who was it?"_

"_Oh, sorry. It was Thomas. He said hello to me and then told me of how pleased he was to meet me and how honoured he'd be to work for me one day. You see, Jeanie, through various marriages going back several generations, my family has always been connected with the railways here on Sodor in one way or another. Before the railways were nationalised in 1948, other families owned the various railway companies that existed on Sodor then, and through marriage, those companies were all brought together until one family line, the Hatts, owned them all. When I decide to retire, or die, whichever comes first, everything will pass on to my son, Richard." _

Sir Topham then took Mr Conductor's whistle from his pocket and turned it round and round in his hands, staring at it in silence for a few moments, then he sighed quite heavily and said, _"When I was young, back in the nineteen-fifties, the railways in Britain were in great trouble. Wages were rising faster than revenue was coming in and with the fare-freezing and limit on freight charges imposed by the government, they were losing money with no sign of the situation ever getting better. The government decided to set up an advisory group to look at the situation. They following their recommendations and closed down a third of the railways to get rid of the little-used and unprofitable railway lines and services, and they scrapped a third of a million freight wagons. They were all sentient freight wagons. _

"_The end of fuel-rationing after the war led to the development of diesel engines, which began replacing the steam engines. Some of the steamies were sold abroad, but the vast majority were sent to the scrapyards in Barry, south Wales, to be broken up. That was when my father changed from being cheerful and friendly to sombre and moody . I could see that he'd became very concerned about something quite serious, and sometimes, I'd hear him arguing with my mother about the trains, especially the steamies, but it wasn't until a few years later that I found out what had changed him. _

Jeanie listened to Sir Topham, the seriousness and tone of his voice telling her that she was about to learn something very personal indeed, eager to hear more but, at the same time, feeling intrusive.

"_I was in the family room one evening," _Sir Topham continued,_ "listening to the radio with my mother whilst my father was working in his study, the room you arrived in with me just before lunch. I remember that night as though it was yesterday. He came in and sat down in his favourite armchair and looked at me for a few seconds, and said, 'I know, Son. I know.' 'Know what, Father?' I asked, thinking I had done something wrong and was about to receive a scolding for it, but he just kept on looking at me...then he said, 'I know the truth about the trains!'."_

Jeanie could tell by the sombre expression that had appeared on Sir Topham's face that he was recalling a rather poignant memory and, intrigued with his tale, she felt that the elegant gentleman standing a few feet away wanted to say more on the subject, and being intrigued, she asked_, "What did he know?"_

Still staring into space, Sir Topham replied, in a hushed tone, _"He said that he'd found out how the engines had become sentient, and when I excitedly asked him how, all he said was that he couldn't tell me, but one day I may or may not find out for myself, and he refused to say another word on the matter. That was when he changed, and what he did then was an obsession with him that lasted until the day he died. He started trying to acquire as many steam engines as he could afford before they were dismantled and melted down. _

"_Sometimes, he'd be gone for days, travelling all the way down to Barry to search the scrapyards for a particular engine before it was taken apart and melted. Sometimes, he'd be successful, and a few weeks later there'd be a new engine working on the island, other times, he'd come back home in tears, crying for an engine that he'd failed to save in time. I never understood why he got so upset about it. Many years later, I went to Barry to see the scrapyards for myself. It...it was a sad, sad place, seeing all those engines lined up there, all of them so silent and broken, just...just waiting...waiting to die."_

Jeanie suddenly felt embarrassed for the man as a couple of tears started running down Sir Topham's face. Her cheeks reddened as she watched the elegant man's grief and, not knowing how to respond adequately, she cleared her throat which, as it turned out, was enough as Sir Topham coughed in response and quickly searched his pockets for a handkerchief to wipe his face and eyes dry.

"_Please...please forgive me, Miss Watkins. I became rather...melancholic just then."_

"_I...I'm sorry, Sir Topham. I...I shouldn't have asked."_

"_No, no, Jeanie. It wasn't that at all, it was my own fault. They were just...memories from long ago. Memories that have a certain...significance to what is happening at the moment."_

"_What do you mean?" _asked Jeanie, thinking that something like may have happened before.

"_I...I can't say, to be honest. It's just a...it's just that I can't speak of certain things to you. The...the railway magic has a...hold over me, so to speak That must be why my father said he couldn't speak about what he'd found out." _

Feeling completely out of her depth, Jeanie remained silent as she stared at the ground, on the one hand fascinated by what she was hearing and hoping to hear more, but on the other, feeling sadness in her heart as she imagined lines of sentient trains, no, _children,_ she told herself as her throat hitched, _children waiting to be executed!_

"_When you get a chance,"_ she heard Sir Topham say, but she wasn't listening anymore, instead, she was seeing herself racing along a track with the only thing of any importance to her being that she arrive at her destination on time. The last time she'd been late, her controller shouted at her that if she didn't get her act together and be more punctual in future, it would be Barry for her. Terror filled her heart on hearing that as she and the other engines at Crewe had overheard the managers talking about the impending service cuts and line closures being implemented.

Some of the express engines were feeling confident that, as their runs were popular and much-needed, they were pretty sure that they wouldn't have anything to worry about, but there were a few engines, her included, that knew their futures were being discussed by the people that ran the railways. Being sent to Barry meant that it was the end of the line for an engine. Being sent to Barry meant deactivation and...and death!

She knew what deactivation was, well, a bit of it, as she'd been semi-deactivated before when she'd gone in for repairs after having had a bump with another engine, but death, that was what all the engines feared. None of them could answer her question when she asked what death was, only that it was like when she entered a long tunnel that didn't have an exit, and that she wouldn't even know that she was in a tunnel or anything, in fact, she wouldn't know anything at all. She didn't like hearing that, as she quite liked knowing where she was and knowing _things_ as well. After hearing from the other engines what death was and every time she went into a long tunnel, she would try and think what it was like to know she was inside that tunnel, but found it quite a hard thing to do, but she kept on trying anyway. She even tried to see what it was like to not think of anything whilst she was in the dark tunnels, but the light from her lamp kept distracting her. Once, she'd managed to extinguish it by herself, only to receive the worst scolding of her existence from her driver afterwards. She never tried that ever again.

Next, she was seeing a three men walking towards the siding where she usually slept overnight. Recognising then as her controller, driver and fireman, she wondered if she was being given a really important job to do today, but as the group of men got nearer to her, she could see that they all looked rather sad. looking at her with misery in their eyes. She heard her driver say to her controller _'It's only right that I tell her, but it's breaking my heart to do so!' _ before he turned to face her and said, _"I'm sorry, my girl, but the directors have looked at your case and...and they've decided that...that you must go. I...I'm so sorry, love, but they won't change their minds."_

_**~Go?~**_she asked._**~Where are they sending me? Is it another branch line? What part of the country is it?~**_

"_It's not a branch line, I'm sorry to say,"_ her controller said. _"It's Barry."_

Jeanie suddenly felt herself drained of all hope and started to cry in despair. Her driver and fireman rushed up to her and grasped the rims of her buffers offering condolences and sympathy but all she could think of was that she would miss all her friends at the sheds in Crewe, especially so Mary, the Stanier Class 8Ps with her blue livery and rounded front that made her look so sleek _"I couldn't face it if a stranger took you on your last trip," _her driver said to her, _so I'll see if they'll let me take you there myself to say goodbye instead."_.

Jeanie reluctantly raised her downcast eyes up to look at him, and replied, _"I'd appreciate that. I...I'm afraid now. Will it hurt?"_

"_I beg your pardon?" _said Sir Topham, looking strangely at her.

"_I said 'Will it hurt?'"_ said Jeanie, looking at Sir Topham but not recognising him.

"_Jeanie, are you all right? I suggested you look on the internet for some photographs of the railway scrapyard at Barry, and you then asked me if it'll hurt. Are you feeling okay? You looked...lost there for a few moments."_

"_The internet? Hurt?"_ she asked, struggling to regain her bearings. She knew what the word he'd just used was, but somehow, she couldn't quite connect to it. _"What's that?"_

"_The internet. On a computer?"_ prompted Sir Topham, looking concerned. _"Typing words on a keyboard, looking at a screen, pictures?"_

Sir Topham looked at the worried frown on his new assistant's face. _Time to reveal another secret of the railways,_ he thought to himself.

"_What date is it, Jeanie?"_ he asked her.

"_It's...it's November the seventeenth. Why do you ask?"_

"_What year?"_

"_Nine...no, it's twenty-eleven. No...yes! I...I'm confused. It is, isn't it? Seventeenth of November, twenty-eleven?"_

"_It is, Jeanie. Now, think carefully for a moment. You were obviously distracted over something when I spoke to you, so tell me, what year did you think it was?"_

"_I thought it was...I thought I was back in nineteen sixty-something. I wasn't even born then. When you said for me to look on the internet, I felt so confused, I didn't know where it was, or even what year it was, I was so lost all of a sudden!"_

Jeanie looked around her and, seeing a large concrete shrub-pot beside the Hall's entranceway, she made her way over to it and sat down on its round edge, shaking her head. _"What...what was that? More of your railway magic taking over my mind?"_

"_In a sense, yes,"_ said Sir Topham, _"but not intentionally. What happened then, Jeanie, happens to everyone on the island, though not as intense as what you just experienced. That was just due to your new 'connection', for want of a better word, strengthening with the railway magic, or what's left of it."_

"_Would you mind explaining that to me, please?"_ asked Jeanie, holding her head in her hands to concentrate on where, and when, she was right now, only just aware that Sir Topham had gone to sit on the other shrub-pot across the footpath from her.

"_Not at all,"_ he replied_. "One of the letters from my father contained a number of theories that he was working on before he passed away. I haven't had a chance to study them all that closely yet, but one of them was that when they, whoever they were, started to give the engines sentience, whether planned or not, they set off what my father named 'time-snags'."_

"_Time-snags?"_ asked Jeanie, raising her head to look over to Sir Topham. _"What on earth are those?"_

"_It's what you just experienced. It's a sensation of dislocation in time that's felt by people when their minds are focused on anything to do with the railways, here on Sodor in particular, because there are so many of the older engines here. To an outsider, someone not...er...acclimatised to the everyday environment of the island, like a visitor to the island, they may feel as though they are living in the past. These 'snags' are centered on the older engines more then the coaches or wagons as they are the ones that have greater awareness of their own sentience. The older the engine, like the steamies, the more powerful this 'time-snag' is. It's not so noticable with the more recent diesels as they are more, how can I say, contemporary to observers."_

"_So the engines affect people?" _asked Jeanie._ "When people are near these 'steamies', as you call them, they feel like they've gone back in time. Is that what you're saying?"_

"_Yes and no. At first, if they notice it at all, they'll feel a touch of nostalgia for the old engines and coaches, but the more contact they have with the trains, even if it's only glancing at them as they pass by, the more they get used to it until, eventually, it's so small it's barely noticable and they never comment on it again, just as you no doubt got used to the novelty of your very first computer when you had it. The more you used it, the easier it got until you use it without thinking about what you're doing."_

"_That's...weird!" _snorted Jeanie._ "Don't people say anything about all that...those feelings they get?"_

"_They're not consciously aware of them in the way they'd notice, you see. I think the best way I can describe it is this: Imagine time as a river flowing along in a straight line or, even better, like an underwater current in a flat pool of water, yes?"_

"_Okay, I think I understand that..."_

"_Right, well, when the first sentient engine came to Sodor, picture it as though someone fixed a stick upright in the bed of this river or pool of flowing time that poked up through the surface and caused the water or, in this case, time, to flow around the stick, much like you may have done yourself as a child if you ever played near a river."_

Sir Topham raised an eyebrow, tacitly asking Jeanie to confirm she was following what he was saying, or indeed, had played in a river as a child.

Jeanie nodded her acknowledgement.

"_Now, a molecule of water flowing in that current of water, or time, when it meets the stick, it obviously has to go around it, so it takes slightly longer to get passed the point where the stick is than if the stick wasn't there and it flowed in a straight line, yes?"_

Jeanie nodded again. _"Yes, like driving my car round something in the middle of the road."_

"_Yes, that's right. Now, don't think of it as water, but as time, time that takes longer to flow to the point where an observer is watching from. This observer 'sees' all the time that go past him, including the part that was delayed on its journey to get to him, and that's when he unconsciously notices the 'time-snag' that my father theorised. The observer senses a part of time that happened in the past at the same time that he's experiencing the present, and that's the feeling he, or she, experiences when coming into contact with the old engines for the very first time."_

"_I think I can understand that, Sir Topham. When my friends and I travelled on one of the trains, it was a steam engine pulling the coaches, and there was a point where we were talking about going back in time to the olden days!"_ said Jeanie_. "It was like we were in a science-fiction time-travel film,"_ she added.

"_Yes, but you were experiencing fact, not fiction, if my father's theory is correct. Anyway, what makes it more complicated is that when more and more of the old steam engines came to the island, it was like someone adding more and more sticks to the river bed, creating more and more ripples or 'time-snags' that then began to influence each other so much that they became stronger and stronger until, eventually, they became part of the permanent flow of time on Sodor, affecting people's, especially newcomers', perception of time."_

"_But why?"_

"_Why? What do you mean, why?"_

"_Why do the older engines affect the flow of time? And I've always lived on Sodor, except when I was in uni. Why should it affect me?"_

"_I don't really know, though I would assume it's due to the time period when the steam engines were created, as though, for example, Victorian and Edwardian era engines brought the 'feel' of Victorian and Edwardian times with them to the island, the same with the not so old engines. I'll have to look more into that idea when all this is over. It's a fascinating idea. Anyway, time is passing _us_ by, which is rather ironic considering what we've just been discussing, and we have to get back to Knapford Station."_

Jeanie, like Sir Topham, stood up, and followed him on the gravel driveway in front of the Hall for a few yards until he stopped, turned round, and offered his arm for her to hold on to. Whilst she understood what he'd just told her, it felt to her that there was something else going on, something that Sir Topham couldn't, or wouldn't, tell her, after all, surely someone in his position would either know or say it was none of anyone's business, wouldn't they? The idea of things being kept from the people who ran the railways seemed absurd to her, and whether or not it was because of something like the confidentiality clause she'd not long ago signed that affected _him_, she didn't know. And then there were these 'time-snags', as Sir Topham called them. That was just mad! What she _did_ know was that although she was becoming more and more accepting of her new situation, as unprepared for _that_ as she was, all it did was to add more to the fear and confusion that she was already feeling.

She was frightened of her growing acquiescence to the degree of servitude to Sir Topham that she was developing, confused over her desire to help him resolve the crisis that had befallen upon the Sodor railways, and also the increasing sense of dislocation from her own wants and needs that were fading away like a cloud on a hot day. She found herself wondering if she should start panicking at her impending loss of independence and free will, but then memory of Sir Topham telling her that she would find herself fascinated and enthralled by the magic of the railways and that all would be well began to reassure and soothe her. She was sure though that she'd just been daydreaming about something sad, but for the life of her couldn't remember anything about it except that it was something to do with tunnels. _Never mind, _she thought to herself, _It couldn't have been important, but, yes, _she then decided, she would do whatever had to be done and be really useful to the portly gentleman.

Sir Topham had a lot on his mind. What with Lady's magic failing, _I MUST go and see as soon as possible, _the engines and wagons transforming into human beings, _What caused that?_ and an obscure translation offering a possible solution, he had a lot of things to sort out. Not only that, but he'd had to deal with the unplanned intrusion from the young woman standing next to him. Thankfully, he'd managed to resolve that particular problem without too much difficulty, but it was the fate of the sentient trains that was the most important thing on his mind right then. What he'd learned so far from reading his father's letters had worried him deeply, especially the part where his father had written that as a result of the creation of this pseudo-sentience, 'the genie was now out of the bottle, and it can't be put back in!'.

Sir Topham had always been emotionally attached to the engines, especially the steamies that he'd first talked to as a child and then later again, as a young man to the diesels, but now, it was quite worrisome, and he wondered how long it would be before the island's newest 'residents' started to feel magical 'backlash' in whatever strange form it might take. He assumed they were going to suffer in one way or another, but wasn't really sure in what form that would be. He hoped that when, not if, it came, it wouldn't drive them mad or insane. He didn't think he would be able to cope with that, not now, not with him knowing what it was that his father was hinting at in his letters.

"_Take my arm, Jeanie,"_ he said, _"and just relax..."_

"_You can open your eyes now,"_ Jeanie heard Sir Topham say as she shook herself together to drive away the dizzying effects of the whirlwind ride she'd just taken. Although it was the same feeling she'd experienced when she'd touched Sir Topham at the hospital and travelled to Hatt Hall, it didn't mean that it was any easier on her.

Blinking her eyes, Jeanie looked around to find herself in a small office lined with folders and boxes on shelves that lined the walls, a large, round clock next to a closed doorway, a couple of filing cabinets and a rather luxurious office desk, behind which was a quite comfy-looking leather chair. On the desk were what one would normally expect to see, a blotter pad, pens and pencils standing upright in their plastic containers, various sheets of papers, timetables and forms, and a rather ordinary-looking telephone. The journey there had taken about two seconds, two seconds that had made her feel as though she was on both a merry-go-round and a roller-coaster at the same time, as well being stretched like an elastic band all the way from Hatt Hall, wherever it was, all the way to where she was standing right now before snapping back into place, surprisingly, without any pain.

"_Where are we?"_ she asked Sir Topham.

"_My office at Knapford Railway Station. Come, Jeanie, let me introduce you to Debra and some special friends of mine."_

Sir Topham then led her into the main traffic office and Jeanie found herself in a rectangular room about twenty by fifteen feet in size. Both Sir Topham and her were standing behind an L-shaped counter with a swing-door at one end, beyond which was another desk where a petite, brown-haired woman dressed in a dark blue, two-piece suit and white shirt was sitting. The woman turned her head to look at her surprise visitors.

"_Oh, Sir Topham, I didn't know you were back,"_ she exclaimed, wondering how he'd entered his office without her seeing him. _"If I'd known you-"_

"_It's all right, Debra, it's not a problem. I'd like to introduce you to Miss Jeanie Watkins. She'll be assisting me until further notice. Debra, Jeanie...Jeanie, Debra Harris, my secretary. Debra, I'm just taking Jeanie to the café to meet our new...'colleagues'. I'll be back soon, but I want you to prepare a full list of any messages and calls from any of the other station masters, and anything else that you consider relevant to this morning's events. Have you heard from Gordon, James or Thomas yet?"_

"_Nothing yet, Sir Topham. I hope they're all right, though Mr. Harrington from Crovan's Gate has called twice while you were out."_

"_I'll call him back when I have that list of calls from you," _said Sir Topham, pushing open the swing-door at the end of the counter and holding it open for her. _"If Thomas and the others were having any problems then I'm pretty sure they would have phoned by now. Come, Jeanie, let's go and meet some of your fellow workers."_

"_Thank you,"_ said Jeanie, _"but I'm a bit nervous of talking to them, though."_

"_They won't bite you,"_ chuckled Sir Topham. _"In fact, they'll probably be slightly in awe of you."_

Jeanie gulped. Just who were these 'transformed' engines? How was she supposed to address them? What could she say to them? Would they understand her? Where they all as batty as Toby appeared to be, or were they like robots she'd seen in films on the telly? With a growing sense of nervous anticipation, she followed Sir Topham along the platform, trying not to catch the eye of the many colourfully-garbed people either milling about in groups on the platform or sitting together on the benches as they noticed Sir Topham and an unfamiliar woman walking through them. Suddenly, Jeanie found herself being ushered by Sir Topham into what was obviously the station café. The hubbub of loud conversation stopped and she stood in the doorway, feeling her heart pounding in her chest as the roomful of colourfully-dressed, grey-faced former engines noticed her and Sir Topham's arrival.

ooOOoo


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10 

Various cliques sat around the half-dozen tables in the station's café as they discussed the momentous change that had befallen upon them overnight, as well as what might happen to them now that they didn't have any railway work to do. Since waking up that morning, every member of the cliques had found themselves thrust into a strange world that, although it held so much familiarity, having seen most of it from on the track, they were still feeling that they would never fit in comfortably.

One of the tables in the centre of the café was occupied by all males. Three of the men used to be two goods wagons and a flatbed, and the two youngsters being former coal trucks that sometimes accompanied them on their former travels around Sodor. Their main concern, apart from the fact that they weren't wagons any more, was that they didn't have anyone telling them what they were supposed to be doing.

Henry had told them earlier that day to make their way to Knapford Station to be representatives of the other former freight wagons that stayed behind at the marshalling yards, and the tall, green-coated former engine had had to keep ordering them and a sizeable group of former coaches - all females - to stop loitering and get a move on. The group of former wagons that were left behind had then been instructed by Henry to tidy up the mess that had been made by all the cargo that had been dumped on the tracks after their transformation.

A similar scene was going on amongst the female occupants of the other central table, as the former coaches consoled each other after their traumatic awakening that morning. As coaches, all they'd ever done was to provide as smooth a ride for their passengers as they possibly could, the speed they travelled at notwithstanding, as that was controlled by the engines that pulled them. Now, though, they were feeling lost, and not one of them was handling it at all well. In other words, there was a lot of wailing and wringing of hands amongst the ladies that ranged in age from their early twenties all the way to very elderly. Annie, Clarabel and Henrietta, though, being the eldest of the group of seven women, were doing their best to comfort their younger companions.

The two tables near the far wall of the café were loosely occupied by some of the former diesels as they listened to Diesel and Diesel 10 bickering over the best way to get the former steamies into trouble without incurring the wrath of Sir Topham Hatt. Dodge, meanwhile, was quite content to sample the various food items that the café was currently stocked with, all washed down with the strongest of black coffees that Doris, the canteen lady, had made in a long while. She, meanwhile, was wondering where on earth the former diesel was managing to put it all.

Daisy was flitting back and forth from one rear table to another, trying to find some sympathy for the ordeal she'd gone through earlier that day when Roger had attacked her, and was not having much success at it as everyone felt that their own problems were more important that those of the lamentful former railcar. She'd sat down next to BoCo a couple of times and hadn't got anything from him other than the occasional grunt of agreement as he stared sullenly at the former steamies sitting near the café entrance, laughing and joking as they reminisced over past escapades.

The steamies had ignored Daisy when she sat down with them hoping for sympathy and maybe to hear anything that could be useful to Diesel 10 in his effort to watch out for everyone. All she'd had from them were glares whenever she tried joining in with their conversation. Even Toby, whom she worked with on the branch lines had ignored her, though she wasn't sure if it was because she'd taken it upon herself to go wandering off with Mavis or if it was because they were all so much older than her. It didn't enter her mind that that they all resented her because she was a diesel.

Emily's speech since her transformation was getting more incomprehensible as the day wore on, making it very difficult to understand her whenever she spoke, and her rich Scottish brogue, Daisy spitefully thought when she was being admonished by her for her recklessness, made her sound as though she had something stuck in her funnel. The worst of the steamies, in Daisy's opinion, was that short, fat Percy, especially when he'd raised his voice at her, berating her for her foolishness and not doing as he'd told her, and then, when that other fatty, Duck, had joined in to say that what she'd done most certainly wasn't the Great Western way of doing things, she'd finally had enough and burst into tears as she ran out onto the platform to be alone in her misery and away from her admonishing detractors.

ooo

Victor, the shunting engine that the men at the repair works used to move the broken-down engines that couldn't move themselves, had been helping the engineers all morning to tend to the two distressed engines. On top of that, the stress of their failed efforts and his own struggle to get accustomed to his new form had become obvious to Lawrence Harrington, the manager of the repair works, and he had told Victor to go and take a break away from the activity inside the main shed.

One of the human engineers, Keith, had volunteered to keep the former shunting engine company, and had taken him for a tour of the smaller sheds where he'd been unable to go when he was an engine. Victor, looking at the machinery inside the sheds, had been fascinated with all the small tools and lathes that Keith and his colleagues used to bend, shape or cut the various bits of metal used to repair the engines, and it had helped to distract him from his woes, but his main worry was still for the plight of poor Neville and Molly inside the main repair shed.

Returning back inside to once more try and help to the two engines, both he and Keith were devastated that Molly had apparently succumbed to whatever it was that she and Neville were suffering from. Victor couldn't explain it, but deep down, he knew that whatever it was that had caused himself to transform from an engine into a human, had somehow failed to have the same effect on the two engines that had been there overnight, and he also thought that they were suffering because they hadn't changed like he had. As a result of the failed transformation, they were stuck in a half-way stage with no way to save them from their ordeal.

"_WHAT'S HAPPENED?"_ shouted Keith, seeing Dennis and some of the other workers carrying somebody towards the first-aid room.

"_IT'S GORDON, THE ENGINE,"_ Dennis called back. _"HE TRIED TO HELP MOLLY BUT SOMETHING'S MADE HIM GO SICK!"_

"_WHAT'S HE DOING HERE?"_ Keith asked him.

"_HE CAME HERE WITH ME TO CHECK ON THE ENGINES,"_ the fitter, Alan, said to him. Looking at the clothes of the man next to the engineer, he asked, _"ARE YOU VICTOR?"_

Victor was dressed in a dark red set of overalls with yellow lining and black and yellow hazard stripes on the hems of his sleeves and legs. On the front of his overalls was the Sodor Steamworks logo. _"YES, I AM," _he shouted._ "HELLO, ALAN, SIR."_

"_HELP US CARRY HIM, VICTOR, HE WEIGHS A TON!"_ Dennis told him.

Victor joined in to help the other men carry the convulsing Gordon and couldn't help but notice the state of his clothing. _"HE'S ALL UNDONE,"_ he wailed.

Finally reaching the first-aid room, they laid Gordon onto a low cot and Dennis ordered everyone bar Victor out of the small room and then closed the door, shutting out most of Neville's wailing. Gordon's body was trembling, and although he was still sweating profusely, his coughing had slackened somewhat.

"_I don't know what I can do for him,"_ said Dennis. _"He breathed in a lot of that foul smoke Molly was giving off and then he started coughing. Victor, get me one of those towels over there and soak it with water in the sink please. Squeeze the water out of it and then wipe his forehead with it."_

Whilst Victor was at the sink, Dennis muttered to himself, _"Let me think, now...if he's like any other human and he's breathed in lots of smoke, then it's obviously affected his lungs, so he needs to breathe more oxygen."_

Victor returned to the cot and started to wipe the sweat off Gordon's forehead. _"Gordon,"_ he said, _"it's me, Victor. If anyone can help you, it'll be me and Dennis. Take it easy, big fella!"_

Dennis, hoping that he was doing the right thing for Gordon, placed a clear, plastic mask over his nose and mouth and held it in place, but Gordon started to cough again and tried to force the mask off, which meant that Victor had to help Dennis to keep the sick former engine's arms down at his sides. Mercifully, Gordon's struggles ceased after a couple of breaths of the oxygen-rich air, and his body's trembling stopped. Soon, he fell asleep.

Both Dennis and Victor silently watched his scarred chest rise and fall as he lay on the cot; the engineer pondering over the mystery of the strange brands while he held the mask in place, and the former shunting engine, not knowing that the scars and brands were in any way out of the ordinary, just watched and waited.

"_It seems to be working,"_ said Dennis, as he stretched the mask's elastic strap behind Gordon's head to hold it in place, then, he lifted one of Gordon's arms up to check his pulse. _"I've no idea what it's supposed to be for him,"_ he said,_ "but if it feels right, then it must be okay for him, I suppose."_

"_What are you doing, Sir?"_ asked Victor.

"_I'm checking his pulse,"_ Dennis replied.

Realising just to whom he was talking to, Dennis decided that he'd better explain with some simple mechanics and biology exactly what he was doing. _"You engines,"_ he said,_ "have coal burning inside your firebox to heat the water that's in your boiler to make the steam that then forces your pistons to move. Your moving pistons are connected to shafts that turn your wheels and they drive you forwards or backwards. We humans eat food that our stomachs dissolve to supply energy to our blood that is carried through our bodies in little tubes. See?"_

Victor looked at the blue-ish lines on Dennis' own wrist that the engineer was pointing to. _"Ooh, yes,"_ he cooed._ " I see them."_

"_Well,"_ continued Dennis, _"we humans have a heart, which is a pump inside our chests that, well, pumps the blood through our veins, and our heart pumps at a certain rate, fast for when we need lots of energy, and slow for when we're resting. We have lungs inside our chests as well, and they work like pumps, but they suck in air for us to breathe and they take oxygen, which is a gas, out from that air. Our bodies need oxygen to live, you see, and it's carried around in our blood as well."_

"_It must be very important for you, this blood,"_ said Victor.

"_It is,"_ agreed Dennis, quite easily pulling Gordon's left glove off and checking his pulse. _"When we fall ill, doctors check how well our heart is pumping by checking our pulse to see if it is weak or strong, and right now, Gordon's heart appears to be quite healthy, seeing as he's got a body like a human instead of metal, and, according to his pulse, it doesn't seem to be going too fast or too slow. Here, Victor, no, hang on, a moment...can you take your gloves off?"_

Victor tugged his left glove with his right hand and replied, _"No, I can't."_

"_That must be the way it's supposed to be, then. Before Gordon fell ill, he couldn't take his gloves off, either, nor could he undo his coat. Lawrence tried to undo Gordon's coat but it was stuck fast until after he became ill, but I managed to undo the buttons just before you returned with Keith. I think the smoke must have weakened whatever it is that keeps him all together. Hmmm, that bears thinking about. Anyway, Victor, put your ear to Gordon's chest by here and listen to his heart beating."_

"_Ooh, can I?"_ Victor asked, excitedly.

"_Yes, go ahead..." _

Victor leant over Gordon's prone body and carefully rested his head where Dennis had pointed, and listened...

"_That's amazing,"_ he exclaimed, standing up. _"Have I got a heart as well?"_

"_I would say yes,"_ replied Dennis. _"When our hearts become too weak to carry on beating, humans go to a hospital to have a special operation where the doctors take out our weak heart and put a healthier one in- SHIT! Look at THAT!"_

"_What's wrong, Sir?"_ asked Victor, suddenly fearful for Gordon.

"_That mark by there..."_

Dennis was pointing to a straight scar about six inches long on Gordon's chest. _"It looks just like an operation scar,"_ he said._ "Look, just by there...there...there, and all along here. You can see where a needle has gone through his skin for the stitches. I'd got to tell Mr. Harrington about this. Stay here, Victor, in case he wakes up."_

ooo

"_They're at it again,"_ muttered Diesel 10, gesturing with his head towards the former steamies trying to quieten Percy's ranting and raving about inconsiderate diesels. Had Diesel Ten been looking at the noisy group a minute ago, he'd have seen Daisy run out of the café, but he was more interested in conspiring with Diesel and BoCo as he explained to them ways that they could rile up the steamies without themselves getting into trouble as well.

"_They're too full of pride,"_ he said. _"Because they've been here so long, they think they OWN the railways. You've seen how they react whenever a new diesel comes to the island. The more we can get them to throw tantrums, the sooner it'll be that Topham Hatt decides to get rid of them."_

"_It's Thomas and that Percy over there that are the worst,"_ sneered Diesel. _"Thomas is so full of himself, and that Percy does nothing but insult us all the time. I hope they're the first ones to go."_

"_Just think how efficient the railways will be without the steamies breaking down all the time,"_ added Diesel 10. _"It's more diesels that Sir Topham needs to get on Sodor, not steam engines that slow everything down. What we really need is to d–"_

The café door opening and Sir Topham's entrance with an unfamiliar young woman brought everyone's conversations to a stop, well, she was unfamiliar to all but Toby and Henrietta, who immediately jumped up and squealed_, "Ooh, hello Jeanie!"_

Jeanie smiled back at the elderly woman, but before she could say anything to her, Sir Topham, after looking around the café to see who was there all, announced, _"My friends, I'd like to introduce you all to my new assistant, Miss Jeanie Watkins. She'll be helping me to, um, to help you all get used to your, er, new condition. I'm not going to have time to help you all myself, but feel free to talk with her about anything you want to know about being, er, people. I don't know how long it'll be before I can find a solution to Lady's magic failing, though, but I do have some clues to look into."_

"_Sir Topham, how long are we all going to be here for, Sir?"_ asked Percy.

"_I don't know yet, Percy, why do you ask?"_

"_Well, Sir, I don't want to stay here with the diesels, Sir. They're mean and nasty, Sir."_

"_Hah!"_ laughed BoCo. _"Us, mean and nasty? I was watching you steamies being mean and nasty to Daisy just a minute or so ago. You were all so nasty to her she ran off crying!"_

"_I didn't see that,"_ Diesel 10 whispered to him.

"_I did,"_ BoCo quietly replied, then, to Sir Topham, he said, _"Sir, they were scolding her for wandering off this morning."_

"_What do you mean 'wandering off'?"_ Sir Topham asked him.

Diesel 10 stood up and said, _"Sir Topham, Percy allowed her to leave the café this morning and go into Knapford town. I found her several miles away being attacked by a man, so I saved her and brought her back."_

"_WHAT?"_ shouted Sir Topham. The last thing he wanted was for the former trains to get into any trouble, especially away from the station where he wouldn't be able to keep an eye on them. _"Explain yourself, Percy!"_ he demanded. _"I believe I told you to keep everyone here. Why was she allowed to wander off?"_

"_I-I-I don't know. Sir!"_ answered Percy, mournfully. _"There were so many others here that I lost track of her. I'm so sorry, Sir!"_

Sir Topham looked around the café again, now noticing that the former trains had segregated themselves into their respective groups, then he noticed something else_. "Where's Henry?"_ he asked._ "I thought he'd be back by now."_

Percy gulped nervously. _"He-he's gone missing as well, Sir. I-I-I don't know where he's gone, Sir!"_

Sir Topham sighed in exasperation, glared at Percy, and asked, _"Is there anyone else missing that I should know about?"_

"_I havna seen na sight o' tha wee lassie, Mavis, since this verra morn,"_ said Emily. _"I dinna ken whaur she be!"_

"_I'm sorry,"_ said Sir Topham, _"but could you say that again, please, Emily. I didn't quite catch what you said."_

"_She said, Sir Topham," _volunteered Diesel 10, standing up, _"that Mavis has gone missing as well. That's two, no, three former engines that Percy's lost so far. I think that it would have been wiser for you to have put someone else in charge, someone that would have been more...respected. Somebody like me, for instance?"_

"_YOU STINKING, SLIMY DIESEL!"_ shouted Percy, getting up so fast that he knocked his chair over. Glaring across the café, he yelled, _"IT'S NOT MY FAULT WE'RE ALL LIKE THIS, YOU...YOU PROBABLY HAD SOMETH-"_

"_SILENCE, ALL OF YOU!"_ roared Sir Topham, then, turning to face the enraged Percy, he said, _"I think he's right, Percy. I may have made a mistake putting you in charge this morning. I think tha-"_

"_BUT, SIR,"_ wailed Percy, _"IT'S HIS FAUL-"_

"_I SAID SILENCE!"_ Sir Topham shouted again. _"I'VE GOT ENOUGH PROBLEMS ALREADY WITHOUT HAVING TO HEAR YOU LOT ARGUING! Now, Percy, why have you got bruises all over your face?"_

But before Percy could reply, Emily decided to put her two-penn'orth in. _"It wis tham there diesels tha were hae a wee fankle wi tha steamies an it went to a reet rammie oot on yon platform."_

Sir Topham stared at the green-coated woman and said, _"What on Earth did you just say, Emily?"_

"_She said,"_ said Henrietta, _"that the diesels and the steamies were having a little problem with each other and that they all started fighting on the platform, Sir Topham."_

"_Thank you, Henrietta,"_ said Sir Topham, then he turned towards Diesel 10 and asked, _"Was this you causing problems again?"_

"_No, Sir Topham,"_ replied Diesel 10 in indignation, _"I wasn't even here at the time. Even Percy'd agree with that. Am I right, Percy?"_

"_Yes, you're right,"_ Percy hissed angrily, fuming inside that he couldn't deny the bully's statement.

"_Well?"_ Sir Topham asked the room in general. _"What was all the fighting for, then?"_

"_They started bossing us around,"_ said Diesel. _"Just as though they owned the place."_

Sir Topham sighed impatiently. _"There's only one boss here,"_ he said,_ "and that's ME! If I hear of any more fighting, you'll all be in trouble when this is over. I want you all to stop acting like children and to start acting like useful eng-, people instead and to work together. If any of you see Thomas and James when they get back here, send them to see me in my office. Now, what's this about Daisy wandering off?"_

"_If I may, Sir Topham?"_ said Diesel 10. _"I was returning to Knapford after, er, looking for any engines or trucks that may have wandered off when I saw Daisy being attacked by a human man. Like I said, I saved her and brought her back to Knapford. We were all sitting in here quite peaceful when, not long before you came in, Percy and the other steamies started to berate her. It seems she got upset and ran off again."_

"_Where did you find her being attacked?"_

"_Not far from Dryaw, Sir Topham. I, er, chased the man away and brought her back on the pump trolley I, er, we were using."_ Diesel Ten pointed at himself and then to Dodge sitting nearby.

"_How on Earth did she manage to get that far away?"_ Sir Topham asked him.

"_Well, she told me that she and Mavis left after the, er, disagreement the others all had this morning and went off to look at the shops in Knapford. The man that gave them a lift to the station this morning saw them and offered to buy them some food. He took them to a pub and when Mavis went outside to look at some swans in the river, Daisy felt ill. The man took her for a ride in his car to make her feel better and then he attacked her. Then we came by and I saved her."_

Sir Topham studied Diesel 10 closely. Yes, it was quite true that the former class 2 had been a rather unfriendly and problematic engine before last night's mysterious event, but his present helpfulness suggested that it had been his former large size that had made him so troublesome. Maybe now that there wasn't such a difference in size between him and the former steamies, his bullying and aggressive temperament may have cooled down somewhat. _Yes,_ thought Sir Topham, _I'll give him a chance to show that he has learned his lesson._

"_Then I offer my thanks to you for looking out for the other engines, Diesel Ten. Well done! So, where's Mavis now?"_

Percy, hearing Sir Topham congratulating his nemesis, became angrier than ever. _"S-S-Sir! How could you? After all he's done to us? He's nothing but a big bully! Aren't you going to tell him off for soaking me and Thomas in muddy water?"_

"_Ah, yes, I'd forgotten about that,"_ said Sir Topham. _"I hope, Diesel Ten, that I won't hear any more of your bullying the smaller engines like that?"_

"_Er...no, Sir. I'm sorry, I won't do it again,"_ Diesel Ten replied. _Now that I don't need to,_ he thought.

"_Very good,"_ said Sir Topham._ "Now, again, whe-"_

"_IS THAT IT?"_ raged Percy. _"IS THAT ALL YOU'RE GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?"_

Sir Topham had had enough. Quite lived, he turned to the short, podgy former steam engine and said, with frightening calmness, _"Percy, just who exactly do you think you're talking to in that manner?"_

Suddenly, Percy was ashamed as he realised his mistake, and he stammered, _"I-I-I'm very sorry, Sir Topham. I won't do it again. Please f-f-forgive m-m-me, Sir."_

Percy knew that he had a short temper, and to suddenly lose control of himself like that when talking to Sir Topham Hatt was the worst thing he'd ever done since he'd arrived on Sodor. His face reddened with shame and he hoped that he wasn't going to be punished for this by being sent to the scrapyard and melted down. _"You won't h-h-have have me m-m-melted down, w-w-will you, S-S-Sir, I'm s-s-so sorry."_

"_That depends on you, Percy. You need to improve your manners. Now, again, where is Mavis?"_

"_There was no sign of her, Sir Topham,"_ said Diesel 10. _"Being a former train, I didn't know where the pub was for me to go and look for her."_

Sir Topham groaned in despair.

"_Sir Topham?"_ a female voice suddenly called from the doorway.

Sir Topham turned round and saw his secretary standing behind him. _"Yes, Debra?"_

"_Sir, Crovan's Gate are on the phone. It's very urgent and they want to speak to you right away, Sir. Gordon's just been taken seriously ill and...and..."_ Debra faltered, not quite sure why the manager of the engine repair works had insisted that what she said next was so important.

"_Yes, and what?"_ prompted Sir Topham, annoyed at the sudden interruption and distressed that it was one of his wife's favourite engines that was in some sort of trouble. _"What else did they say?"_

"_His...his coat, Sir,"_ replied Debra. _"They've...they've taken his coat off, Sir, and...and his gloves and his underclothes as well. They also said that Gordon had such a high temperature that he was almost burning up inside and...and that he wouldn't stop coughing."_

"_I see,"_ frowned Sir Topham. He turned to Jeanie and said, _"We'll do this another time, unless you want to stay here?"_

Jeanie paused, for she certainly wasn't expecting to witness what had just gone on in front of her, and she hadn't taken a liking to the short man that had kept losing his temper, and the other man that had rescued the one called Daisy, well, he very well may have been polite when he spoke, but he had a sly and sneaky look about him that made her skin crawl. The other men sitting near him looked rather grim as well, and she wasn't sure how they would respond to her.

The men and women sitting at the other tables all looked confused, and she wondered why there were a couple of youngsters there as well. _Were they former trains as well? _She wondered. The idea of being dropped into all this so soon was quite un-nerving, and she tried to think of a way to delay it. Then she had an idea.

"_What about Daisy?"_ she asked Sir Topham. _"If she's upset after being scolded, shouldn't we find her first?"_

"_Yes, you're right. Ladies..."_ he said, turning to the group of seated women. _"I want you all to go and find Daisy and bring her back here, please."_

The women, not wanting to incur Sir Topham's wrath, and at the same time grateful that someone had given them something to do, all stood up and left the café, silently squeezing between Sir Topham and Jeanie as they made their way out onto the platform.

"_Go with them, please, Jeanie. Being a, er, real woman, you may be able to deal with her better than they could."_

"_Of course, Sir Topham,"_ she replied.

Relieved, Jeanie went out after the women and followed after Henrietta, calling to her to wait for a moment as she caught up to her.

ooo

Sir Topham returned to his office and sat at his desk, waiting for Debra to put the call from Crovan's Gate through to him. He leant to his left and pulled open one of the lower drawers of the filing cabinet next to his desk. Quickly rummaging through the spring-bound folders inside, he found the one he was looking for, pulled it out and placed it on his desk in front of him. On the front of the manila folder was a white label with just one word printed on it in thick, black capitals: **GORDON**.

He opened the folder to reveal several technical schematics of an experimental steam engine, an 'A0 Pacific' that had been built in Doncaster by Sir Nigel Gresley sometime between 1917 and 1920. Sir Topham already knew that when Gresely had finished using Gordon for designing his A1 Pacifics, he had then gone on to sell the engine, along with a spare boiler and firebox, _not that they'll be of much use right now, _he thought, to the North Western Railway. Then the phone rang once and he picked up the receiver. _"Lawrence, tell me what's wrong with Gordon?"_

Lawrence Harrington had been the manager of the repair sheds at Crovan's Gate Steamworks for the last fifteen years after starting work there as an apprentice blacksmith when he was thirteen, and since then, he'd never seen anything like what he was seeing today. He'd seen all sorts of damage and peculiar situations that the sentient engines had managed to get themselves into, situations that ranged from quite serious to rather amusing, and with the skilled workers he had working under him, they'd all been successfully repaired and put back onto the tracks in a first class state. The current situation, though, had been unimaginable to him, and he just didn't know what to do about the nightmare scene that was waiting for the workers when they clocked in that morning.

The men and the former shunting engine, Victor, had tried talking to the two trains as they went through what he could only describe as hellish agony, but it had all been for nothing. The two engines had been trying to tell the men something, but no-one there could make out what they were trying to say because the pain they were experiencing was to much for them to speak properly. The men had even attempted to light the engine's fireboxes to see if that would help bring them out of whatever it was they were suffering from, but that had to stop when all that happened was that the grey smoke from the burning kindling was suddenly sucked into their flue-tubes and then blown out through their chimneys in a black smog-like cloud. Not only that, but their metal bodywork had then begun to blister before finally fracturing into rips and fissures, which caused the two engines to shriek and cry out even louder. As well as all that, communication between the workers was hampered by the fact that they had all been forced to wear ear-muffs to protect themselves from being deafened by the loud, ear-piercing racket that the two poor engines were making.

The former engine, Victor, had become really upset when even he couldn't understand them, and then, when Gordon had arrived with one of the fitters from Knapford, Lawrence had thought that maybe _he_ could be able to get through to Neville and Molly where everyone else had failed, only for it to go disastrously wrong. Whether or not it was the physical contact between him and Molly that had affected Gordon, or if it was just a coincidence, Lawrence didn't know, for nothing like that had happened when Victor had touched her during his attempts earlier in the day. This time, though, it had ended with Molly dying and Gordon beginning to suffer a 'human' version of what the two engines had been suffering.

Lawrence had tried repeatedly to contact Sir Topham Hatt only to be told by his secretary that he was out dealing with other matters relating to the mysterious event that the affected the island's trains. Now, thankfully, Lawrence could actually speak to him. _If Sir Topham could only offer a solution of some sort..._

"_Ah, Sir Topham. It's bad here! I...I don't know where to start...It's Gordon, he's...he's started convulsing. Neville is still an engine and he's screaming in pain, and Molly...Molly was, too, until...until she died a few minutes ago. Sir, I...I just don't know what to do for him!" _

"_Lawrence, I need you to calm down,"_ the fretting works manager heard Sir Topham say.

"_Y-y-yes, Sir Topham. I'm...I'm sorry. I-I-I..."_

Sir Topham knew exactly how Lawrence was feeling. It seemed as though since he'd arrived at Knapford Station that morning, a series of disasters was trying its very best to drive him to despair, for no sooner than he'd start to deal with one of the crises when another would rapidly occur, not giving him a moment to sit and think of a way to resolve any of them. He hadn't even had a moment to really go over what he'd learnt from the letters and notes from his father and grandfather, only a gist of what the now-dead researchers had actually done all those years ago, which had really shocked and upset him, and he'd been shocked just now on being told that he'd lost one of his engines forever.

Feeling as though he'd been punched in the gut, he heard himself saying, _"It's all right, Lawrence, I can believe it with all that's happened today."_

Trying to focus on what was happening to Gordon right now, rather than what had already happened and could be changed, he said, _"Debra told me that you'd managed to get his clothes off him, yes?"_

"_Yes, Sir Topham, but his skin...well, it...it was horrible to look at. There were these marks all over it that looked as though they'd been burnt onto him with a branding iron, but he was a steam engine, for God's sake, not a prize bull!" _

"_Lawrence, you'll have to trust me on this, but I'm asking you to ignore those marks. They're not important to his current suffering. They're...they're to do with the railway magic. That's all I can tell you about them right now, I'm sorry to say. Lawrence, tell me, are you able to care for him there?"_

"_I don't know, Sir Topham. All we can really do for him is to bathe him with water to cool him down and check to see if he's still breathing. We're engineers here, not doctors." _

"_I realise that, Lawrence, and I don't know if doctors would really be able to help him anyway, and besides that, those brandings would raise too many awkward questions. I think it's best to keep him there with you for now."_

"_We'll do what we can, Sir Topham, but what about Neville? He's still suffering and we just can't find any way to help him. Have you any ideas that may help?"_

Several moments passed in silence as Lawrence waited for a reply.

"_Sir Topham, are you still there?"_ "_Yes, I'm still here, Lawrence. That noise in the background, is that Neville?"_

"_Yes, Sir Topham. It's been like that since we arrived here this morning. Both of them until Molly...until she died, then it was just Neville." _

"_Give me just a moment, please, Lawrence."_

Sir Topham put the receiver down onto the blotter in front of him and, with both hands now free, used them to support his bowed head as he contemplated Molly's death and his next course of action. In the silence of his office, he could hear the quiet tick-tock of the wall clock as it counted the passing seconds like a countdown of the time remaining before he had to decide Neville's fate. Finally, he sat upright and picked up the receiver.

"_Lawrence, please listen carefully, for this is what I want you to do..."_

ooo

At Crovan's Gate, Lawrence bid goodbye to Sir Topham and put down the receiver before sitting back in his chair. He thought for a few moments of all the wondrous things he'd seen and had been involved with since being introduced to the magical railways by Sir Topham's father as an apprentice engineer. He'd almost doubted his own sanity when Charles Topham Hatt, one of the most prominent men on Sodor at the time, had met him outside the repair sheds on his first day at work there and asked for a few minutes of his time and a signature on a piece of paper. He, a lowly apprentice, finding himself chatting with the owner of several of the railway companies on Sodor! He'd had another shock when the great man had paused his friendly questioning of how well Lawrence thought he'd do there as an apprentice to suddenly ask him if he believed in magic. Lawrence had found that very strange, but remained silent when Charles then called out, _'Edward, come here a moment, please.'_

Lawrence recalled his bemusement when, after looking around and not seeing anyone nearby except for a blue steam engine, that very same steam engine then slowly rolled forward before stopping just a few feet away from the two men. He remembered how alarmed he'd been when they'd both walked around to the engine's footplate and he'd realised that there wasn't even a driver or fireman in the engine's cab, and surprise even more when Charles had led him back to stand in front of the engine and then spoken to the locomotive itself, saying, '_Edward, I'd like you to meet Lawrence Harrington. He's going to be learning how to repair you should you ever breakdown.'_

Not knowing what to make of the man's unusual behaviour, Lawrence had screamed in fright when the black, round metal disc of the engine's smokebox suddenly morphed into a grey-coloured human face with two round eyes, a small, pointy nose, and a smiling mouth that suddenly moved to say, '_Hello, Lawrence, I'm Edward, and I'm very pleased to meet you!'_

Lawrence chuckled as he recalled that day and being reassured by Sir Hatt that all was well as he was told about the magical railways and how demanding his job was going to be once he became a qualified engineer. His brief moment of cheer abruptly disappeared when he thought of what he'd been told to do.

Since becoming manager of the repair works, he'd been fortunate that no engine had ever been involved in an accident or situation serious enough to warrant this kind of decision, but he knew that his predecessor had had to do it on two occasions, both times as a result of a head-on collision with another engine. Lawrence had been the foreman of the works at the time, and he well-remembered the feelings of grief that had descended upon the workforce afterwards, as well as the sense of failure that the men had felt when they found out that all their efforts to save the seriously-damaged engines had been in vain. Sighing, Lawrence reached down to the lower drawer of his desk and pulled out a nearly-full bottle of whisky and plastic cup. He unscrewed the metal cap and poured himself a two-finger measure of the amber-coloured liquid.

Slowly turning the plastic cup between his hands, he thought of the two poor engines that, when he'd left the sheds the previous evening, had been chatting together about how much they were looking forward to being repaired and sent out back out to work, and he raised the plastic cup into the air, quietly whispering_, "To Molly and Neville."_ He quickly swallowed the burning liquid and replaced the bottle and cup in their drawer, then he stood up and took out a new pair of safety gloves from an opened box on top of a filing cabinet near the door to his office.

Just as Lawrence was about to leave his office, he tsked as he suddenly stopped, returned to his desk, and opened another drawer to take out a small, pocket-sized torch. Now suitably equipped, he made his way back to the main shed where the last recognisable engine on Sodor was waiting for him.

As he walked out onto the shop-floor, the workers clustered around Neville looked to him questioningly, to which he responded with a brief shake of his head, and as he neared the group, he made sure to make silent eye contact with each of them, hoping that they would recognise by his tight-lipped grimace exactly what he intended to do.

He was somewhat consoled by the sight of bowed heads that the men were only too aware of his intention, and saw Alan, the fitter that had arrived with Gordon not so long ago, spit in disgust onto the concrete floor. Lawrence gave a sympathetic frown to Jimmy Jackson, one of the younger engineers, as he suddenly broke out in tears but not turning away from his colleagues to hide his embarrassment at being affected in such a manner. Lawrence halted his slow walk and stood in front of Neville, staring at the engine's face as it morphed repeatedly between flesh and steel, never staying in one form for more than a few seconds as his wailing went up and down in both loudness and tone.

His task was a simple physical one, but, mentally, it weighed on his mind like an executioner's axe, and Lawrence was no killer. With trembling hands, he started to put on his gloves, accidentally dropping one of them to the floor as he fumbled his attempt at taking his watch off while still holding his torch. He cursed, placed the torch between his teeth and picked up the fallen glove after putting his watch into a pocket, finally managing to fit the remaining glove onto his hand. He stepped around to the side of the wailing engine and walked along its flank towards the cab, looking with concentration at the engine's valve gear and wheels as he passed by, trying to focus his mind on anything other than what he was about to do. A moment of light-headedness made him sway as he climbed up onto the cab's footplate, forcing him to rest for a moment to regain his composure as a tightness formed inside his chest as he thought of the consequences of his task's completion.

Breathing deeply, he knelt down and opened Neville's firebox doors to see the remains of the failed attempts at lighting a fire. He reached inside the firebox to brush the charred kindling to one side and pushed the top half of his body inside and twisting round to support his weight with his left hand on the firebox's grilled floor. Then, after feeling along the back fire-plate with his right hand, he slid aside a small plate to reveal a thin metal bar resting on two small u-shaped brackets. He lifted the bar out of the brackets and the plate they'd been securing fell downwards to reveal a small, dark compartment. Inside the confined space of the firebox, Neville's pained screeching was heard as a low, thunderous roar that reverberated all around him and made his chest felt as though his ribs were vibrating.

Awkwardly, he reached inside the compartment, wishing absurdly for a moment that his arm had two elbows just to make such a movement easier, and felt around with his fingers until they brushed against a jelly-like mass. He poked the soft but yielding substance a couple of times until the tips of his fingers felt a hard surface. He then pushed the rest of his hand inside the jelly until he could wrap his fingers around what he was seeking. He pulled his hand out from the jelly and immediately felt a lessening in the intensity of the engine's cries, then, seconds later, the vibration inside the firebox and his chest both stopped at the same time.

Carefully extracting himself from inside the firebox, he stood up and shone the thin beam of his torch onto what he was holding and saw a small, black, multi-sided crystalline object about the size of a walnut. It was so black that it seemed to absorb the torchlight itself, at least that's what he thought it was doing, as nowhere on its solid-looking surface could he see any shine or reflection. _That's strange,_ he thought to himself. _Sir Topham said that it should be white. _

He climbed back down out of Neville's cab and walked round to the front of the now quieter engine as its wailing was replaced by a gentle keening sound that was diminishing in volume almost to the point of nothing. Looking up at Neville's face, he noticed that its morphing slowed down in pace, and was now stayed still long enough for the engine's anguished eyes to stop their rolling about and stare fixedly at him.

"_Neville,"_ Lawrence said gently, now not having to shout in order to be heard,_ "I'm...I'm so sorry. You were suffering too much. There...there was no other way. Goodbye, my friend."_

In the now-silent repair shed, the only thing that could be heard was the faint sound of Gordon coughing in the first-aid room, and Lawrence continued to look at the black-bodied engine as Neville soundlessly expressed his last few words before he closed his eyes forever, _**Thank you, Lawrence.**_

Lawrence felt a tear run down his cheek as Neville's grey face morphed back into a black, iron smokebox door for the last time ever.

Dennis left the first-aid room and abruptly came to a halt as he realised that he was walking into deathly silence. Looking at the scene in front of him, he let out a sad sigh as he noticed his boss tightening shut the handles of Molly's smokebox door. Walking over to the yellow locomotive and seeing the miserable expressions on his colleagues' faces, it was pretty obvious what had happened; Neville had gone as well.

As he got nearer to the two engines, he glanced briefly over to the black engine before looking back at Lawrence, and asked, _"Gone?"_

"_On Sir Topham's orders,"_ said Lawrence, noticing his arrival as he climbed down to the ground and stood in front of Molly.

"_I see,"_ said Dennis, grimacing.

"_How's Gordon?"_ Lawrence asked him. _"The silence coming from the first-aid room tells me that he's either sleeping now or that he's died as well."_

"_He's sleeping, Sir,"_ replied Dennis. _"Mister Harrington, Sir, there's something I need to tell you regarding Gordon. It would be better if I showed you."_

"_What do you mean?"_ asked Lawrence.

"_It's something I've found, Sir. Please...if you could look at him?"_

ooOOoo


	11. Chapter 11

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Chapter 11

The phone rang and Sir Topham picked up the receiver.

"_Sir, it's Lawrence Harrington for you,"_ announced Debra.

"_Thank you, Debra. Yes, Lawrence?"_

"_It's done, Sir Topham. There is a bit of a problem, though."_

Sir Topham closed his eyes for a few moments before replying, _"Yes?"_

"_Sir, the facets, they...they weren't as you said they'd be. They didn't match."_

Sir Topham's face took on a look of surprise. _"What do you mean 'They didn't match'?"_

"_That's what I said, Sir Topham. With both of the engines, the facets in their firebox were a dull black and the ones in their smokebox were both a dirty red colour. None of them were in any way translucent. That's the problem, Sir Topham."_

"_No, Lawrence, it's not a problem, just another puzzle for me to solve. Lawrence, can you come to Hatt Hall for dinner tonight? There's...much that we have to discuss."_

"_Yes, I can do that. What time would you like me to be there?"_

"_As long as nothing else crops up, eight-thirty for nine. Dress casual. I'll be inviting Peregrine, Dick and Sam as well."_

"_I'll be there for eight-thirty, Sir. Something else I have to report is about Gordon. He's sleeping at the moment but it sounds as though he's dreaming. Dennis just came in a minute ago and said that he's started mumbling things in his sleep, though neither he nor Victor can make out what he's saying other than 'Yes, my Lord' and 'Of course, Sir', but while Dennis was examining him earlier, he discovered what looks like an operation scar amongst the marks on his chest. I've managed to obtain a photograph of the marks with one of the men's instant cameras and I was going to leave for Knapford after this call, but I'll bring it with me tonight instead if that's all right with you?"_

"_Yes, that'll be fine, Lawrence. I think I can explain more, rather, show you more about those marks tonight, so don't worry about them for now. We can all get up to date at dinner tonight."_

"_I understand, Sir Topham. I shall look forward to it. Goodbye, Sir Topham."_

"_Goodbye, Lawrence."_

Sir Topham replaced the receiver and sighed loudly. Two of his engines were now lost forever and it looked as though he might be going to lose Gordon as well. His heart felt like a lump of lead in his chest as he thought of telling his wife they had lost the steam engine that had introduced her to the magical railways. On top of that, there was Burnett Stone in the hospital and there was Jeanie, whom, he had to admit, was clearly doing her best in something that was quite extraordinary and out of her comfort zone. There was the rivalry between the former steam engines and the diesels and on top of that, he hadn't even had a chance yet to find out how Lady was, and Edward was still on the mainland. Sir Topham just didn't know if the only remaining engine he believed he had left would fall ill if he returned to the island. The translation his father had been working on was still a series of baffling phrases that he hadn't had a chance to ponder over yet, and Mavis was missing in a pub somewhere!

That last thought decided the matter and, after ringing Debra to contact the other guests for tonight's meeting, he got up from his desk and pulled open the top drawer of the filing cabinet. Inside was a bottle of brandy and a small glass. Taking them out, he made his way back to his desk, sat down and poured himself a drink. If only his son was here instead of touring round Europe to be able to help him with all of this, he wistfully thought. _After all,_ he mused,_ I'm not getting any younger._ He drank the small measure of brandy, and contemplated having one or two more before going to bed that night. That reminded him..._Damn it! I need to sort out where THEY are going to sleep tonight!_

There was no way he could arrange enough hotels across the island to accommodate all the former trains, and the logistics would no doubt be a nightmare of biblical proportion. Similarly with village halls, and he didn't think he could trust the former trains not to get into any trouble in places like that; there'd be far too many distractions for them. What he needed were large enough spaces away from the towns, spaces like fields..._Fields? _Then he had a brainwave. Picking up his phone, he rang his secretary again.

"_Debra, I'm going to give Geoffrey Travers a ring and get him to open up his camping sites for me - he owes me a favour. I'll tell him that I've got several trainspotter groups here and that they're stuck on the island due to the lack of train movement after the signals failure and that they need somewhere to stay. When Thomas and James report back, I'd like you to compile a master list of where ALL the former trains are situated, then, I'll sort out separate lists for the steamies and diesels, mix in the coaches and trucks and plan the collection routes. I'll arrange for the coach companies to pick everyone up and take them to the sites and there they can all stay until I find a way for Lady to get her magic back. You can then fax or email those to the coach companies and then contact all the station and site managers to tell them what's happening. Have you done that list of messages for me yet?"_

"_Yes, Sir Topham. I'll bring it in now."_

"_Thank you, Debra."_

Sir Topham replaced the receiver and put his brandy and glass back into the filing cabinet just before Debra came in carrying a quite sizeable pile of notes.

"_Here you are, Sir Topham. There are several messages and queries from various station and depot managers, but most of them are from passengers that were let down by the trains not turning up this morning. I've even had the Mayor of Knapford on twice demanding an explanation for why there are no trains."_

Sir Topham let out a disheartened sigh. _"I suppose that's inevitable. He's worrying that he's not going to get re-elected next time. I don't know why there's so many complaints, we have, after all, had the radio station make regular announcements all day, and we did manage to lay on replacement bus services to cover the failures. We did do that, didn't we?"_

"_Yes, we did, Sir Topham."_

"_Thank goodness for that, or I'd be too frightened to show my face in the street without being attacked."_

"_I'll leave you to your tasks, Sir Topham,"_ said Debra, smiling in sympathy for him.

"_Thank you,"_ Sir Topham replied, sitting back down at his desk and hoping he'd have enough peace and quiet to make his calls. _It's half-past three now, maybe after I get through all of these calls, well, the important ones, _he thought to himself, _I can use the magic guard's whistle to go and check on Lady. If they keep Burnett Stone in hospital overnight for observation, then he may want to go back home to Lady tomorrow, but I don't want to wait until then to check on her. There's certainly enough sparkle left in the whistle for one long trip at least. Maybe I can find some more sparkle while I'm over there._ _I might be lucky enough to find a clue as to what made her lose her magic in the first place._ _Yes,_ Sir Topham finally decided, _that's a much better idea. It'll mean that I can spend more time tomorrow with the problems here. I must remember to phone the hospital to check on Burnett._

ooo

Jeanie and Henrietta found Daisy in the ladies' toilet, crying in front of a mirror and staring at her ruined make-up as her tears ran down her cheeks. She was muttering something under her breath but neither of them could make out what she was trying to say. Jeanie took one look at her messed-up face and scanned around the small room before seeing a paper-towel dispenser next to a hand-dryer. Going over to the dispenser, she pulled out a handful of sheets, and after lightly wetting them in a sink, went over to Daisy and gently placed her arms around her shoulders.

"_Hey, there, Daisy. I'm Jeanie, and I would like to help you,"_ she gently assured the crying woman, then, looking back to the elderly woman with her, she said, _"Help me to get her to sit down, please, Henrietta,"_ nodding her head towards a small bench-seat bolted onto the back wall of the small room. _Crikey, _she thought as she tried to manoeuvre the crying woman away from the mirror._ It's like dragging a heavy wardrobe all by myself_.

"_Sit down, Daisy, and I'll clean you up," _she said._ "Would you like to tell me what's the problem?"_

Daisy, sitting on the cushioned bench, clasped her hands nervously together on her lap and turned her head to look at the stranger crouching down next to her, and moaned, _"M-M-mmm...mu-mu-mu...mu-mu-my swerves! I...I th-th-think they're ruined now and...and n-n-no-one cares about me!"_

"_Your...swerves?"_ Jeanie asked, looking up at Henrietta in confusion.

"_She means her suspension,"_ the elderly former coach told her. _"Because she's a...was a railcar, she's got...had, special suspension for banking on sharp bends in the track. She's rather proud of it...them."_

"_Oh,"_ breathed Jeanie, _"I see."_

Looking back at the distressed Daisy, Jeanie reached up with a paper towel and started wiping away at the messed-up rouge, mascara and eye-shadow. _"I'm sure the mechanics will sort that...them out for you when all this is over and you're a railcar again. Sir Topham has something that that he thinks will help him to save Lady, so don't you worry about your...swerves. Come on, let's get you all cleaned up and looking lovely again, yes?"_

"_Y-y-yes, ok-k-k-kay, J-J-Jeanie. I-I-I think I like you. You're not like that h-h-horrible Roger."_

"_Who's Roger, Daisy?"_

"_He's the m-m-man that attacked me,"_ sobbed Daisy. _"He...he wanted to s-s-see m-m-my swerves and for me to give him a ride! How can I give him a ride when I'm not a railcar any more?"_

"_The bastard,"_ Jeanie muttered under her breath. _"He had no right to do that to you, Daisy,"_ she said, then added, _"I heard that one of the other, er, former engines saved you from him."_

"_Y-y-yes. Diesel Ten saved me. He was ever so brave. He...he pulled Roger off me and he chased after him and...and he pushed him back down the slope."_

"_Yes, he was brave, wasn't he?"_ said Jeanie, wiping away the last of the ruined make-up and taking off Daisy's false eye-lashes. _"There now, all done. Ooh, you're very pretty, Daisy. Tell me, what happened after that?" _

"_Diesel Ten broke Roger's hand with his claw,"_ replied Daisy, smiling with genuine appreciation for the compliment she'd just received. _"He snapped it just like a twig!"_

"_What do you mean 'his claw'?"_ Jeanie asked, puzzled.

"_His claw! When he was an engine, he had a mechanical bucket-scoop on his roof for lifting things up, but when he changed into a human, his scoop changed into a claw instead of a hand, and it's soo strong it broke Roger's hand in one go."_

"_That...that was a rather nasty thing to do to him, wasn't it?"_ gasped Jeanie, shocked at the brutality of the former engine's action, but then, she thought, _It's no more than that bastard Roger deserves._

"_Yes,"_ agreed Daisy, smiling. _"That's why he's my hero!"_

"_Yes, I can see why,"_ agreed Jeanie. _"But tell me, Daisy, can you remember the name of the pub that Roger took you and...your friend to, you know, the other engine? Sorry, former engine."_

A look of horror spread across Daisy's face as she realised that she'd forgotten her companion. _"M-M-MAVIS!"_ she shrieked.

"_Where is she, Daisy?"_ asked Jeanie._ "Where's Mavis?"_

"_She's at The Three somethings. She went outside to talk to the swans in the river. That's it...The Three Swans! Oh! Sh-sh-she's still there!"_ Daisy sobbed, as tears again began to run down her freshly-cleaned cheeks.

"_Henrietta,"_ called Jeanie, looking upwards. _"Please, go and tell Sir Topham that...Mavis is at The Three Swans. I don't know where it is, but tell him he should find it in the phone book. Thank you."_

Once more starting to wipe tears off Daisy's face, Jeanie reassured the weeping woman that Sir Topham will take care of things.

ooo

Twenty minutes later, Sir Topham's phone rang. Dearly hoping it wasn't another problem announcing itself, he picked up the receiver and said, _"Yes?"_

"_Sir, it's Michael. I've just collected Mavis from the pub. We'll be back at the station in about fifteen minutes."_

"_Is she okay?"_

"_Yes, Sir, she's fine. Quite merry, in fact, except that she keeps singing this stupid song that some idiot in the pub taught her, something about a Chinaman not being able to milk a cow."_

"_She didn't cause any trouble there, did she?"_

"_No, Sir. She was out the back by the river for most of the day, talking gibberish to the ducks and swans and wading in the river."_

"_Oh, dear. She's not, er, harmed by the water in any way, is she?"_

"_No, Sir Topham, though the people in the pub were trying to get her to say where she got her coat and shoes from as they'd never seen clothes as waterproof as hers before and wouldn't mind getting some for themselves."_

Sir Topham couldn't help letting out a laugh as he pictured the scene in his mind.

Still chuckling, he apologised to the driver on the other end of the phone and thanked him for taking care of the wayward Mavis. Hanging up, he smiled and sighed happily, glad that something amusing had happened for a change instead of more misery.

Settling back to deal with the rest of his phone messages, his momentary happiness faded away when, from out on the platform, he heard a commotion loud enough for him to hear it in his office. Getting up from his seat, he went over to the door to the traffic office and popped his head, _"What's all that shouting?"_ he asked his secretary.

"_It sounds like a riot, Sir Topham,"_ said Debra, looking rather alarmed. _"Shall I call the police?"_

"_No. Let me take a look first. It may be those engines again!"_

He went out onto the platform and was quite shocked to see a group of youths that he recognised as former troublesome trucks running along the rails and trying to squirt foam from some fire extinguishers that they'd found at the former engines standing about on the platform. They were making a right mess. The steamies, of course, were blaming the diesels for all of this, which caused more arguing as they then denied having anything to do with it, and an irate Percy was loudly bemoaning the fact to the other steamies that Sir Topham considered Diesel 10 a hero for saving Daisy.

Sir Topham reached into his pocket and took out an ordinary guard's whistle, then he blew it loudly. It's shrill tone immediately silenced the noisy crowd and the now hushed former engines and wagons watched him anxiously as he made his way over to one of the benches, stepping up onto the seat to then glare down at them. Even the troublesome youths had stopped running about and were now standing between the tracks to look up at him. Then, Sir Topham bellowed loudly, _"TWO ENGINES HAVE DIED TODAY!"_

Several loud gasps and cries were heard from the mixed crowd of former trains.

"_THEY WERE IN CROVAN'S GATE LAST NIGHT FOR REPAIRS WHEN WHATEVER HAPPENED TO CAUSE YOU ALL TO CHANGE INTO PEOPLE TOOK PLACE. THEY DIDN'T CHANGE LIKE ALL OF YOU DID AND, WITHOUT DOUBT, FROM THE MOMENT THEY WERE FIRST AFFLICTED, BOTH OF THOSE POOR ENGINES WERE SUFFERING WHAT HAS BEEN DESCRIBED TO ME AS A LIVING HELL. I WANT YOU ALL TO IMAGINE, IF YOU CAN, WHAT IT WOULD BE LIKE TO BE MELTED DOWN IN THE SCRAPYARD WITHOUT FIRST BEING DE-ACTIVATED ."_

The former coaches that were out on the platform when the ruckus started, all women, started to wail and sob, clutching at each other for support as they cried in grief.

"_RIGHT NOW, GORDON IS AT CROVAN'S GATE. HE HAS BECOME VERY ILL AFTER COMING INTO CONTACT WITH ONE OF THE ENGINES, AND I DON'T KNOW YET IF HE'S GOING TO SURVIVE. I WANT YOU TO STOP THIS FIGHTING RIGHT NOW, OR ELSE WHEN YOU EVENTUALLY GET CHANGED BACK TO YOUR FORMER STATES, YOU WILL _ALL_ BE SCRAPPED AND I WILL GET NEW TRAINS FROM THE MAINLAND TO REPLACE THE LOT OF YOU! IS THAT UNDERSTOOD?"_

"_W-w-who's died, Sir?"_ Percy cried out fearfully.

"_MOLLY AND NEVILLE HAVE DIED, AND IT MAKES ME FEAR FOR EDWARD IF HE COMES BACK TO SODOR. NOW, I WANT YOU ALL TO LEAVE ME IN PEACE TO SORT THIS MESS OUT. YOU TRUCKS, PUT THOSE EXTINGUISHERS AWAY AND CLEAN UP YOUR MESS, OR YOU'LL BE THE FIRST TO GO TO THE SCRAPYARD! YOU HAVE ALL CAUSED CONFUSION AND DELAY, AND I WANT IT TO STOP!"_

"_S-s-sir, what about if Edward comes back, Sir? Will he d-d-die as well?"_

"_I don't know, Percy. I just don't know,"_ Sir Topham sadly replied to the former saddle-tank engine, shaking his head as he stepped back down onto the platform. _"I may have him stay on the mainland until it's safe for him to return. Now, keep your eyes open for Thomas and James when they get here. I'll want to see them straight away."_

"_Yes, Sir,"_ Percy quietly replied, then asked, _"Sir, when will you know about Gordon?"_

"_When something happens, that's when. Now, get back to work without any more of this quarrelling!"_

As Sir Topham walked back to his office, the former trains started whispering amongst themselves about the shocking news they'd just heard about their three friends. Several of the diesels, despite their belligerence towards the steamies, were upset to know that two of their fellow workers were no more. The former steam engines were more affected, though, especially Emily.

"_Och, those poor, wee bairns,"_ she cried, before being led away in tears, rather surprisingly, by BoCo, who was feeling embarrassed over his earlier violence towards the engines he'd once acknowledged as friends.

"_If Gordon can go bad,"_ Diesel said to Diesel 10, _"are the rest of us safe?"_

"_To be honest," _his green-suited colleague replied,_ "I don't know. Best not touch any of them if they go bad as well. Still, that's two, maybe three, less steamies on the island to bother us." _

Diesel looked to his taller colleague and smirked, _"If any of THEM go bad, I wouldn't touch them with a ten-foot shunting pole!" _

ooo

As Percy stood on the platform, staring carefully downline along the tracks for any sign of the missing Mavis or Henry, not aware that she'd been found, he jumped as a voice behind him suddenly said, _"What's going on here, then?" _

Percy turned round and was quite relieved to see that one of his missing friends was back, along with one of the former troublesome trucks.

"_Henry!"_ he cheered._ "Where have you been? Sir Topham was really angry with me for losing you."_

"_I went for a walk in the woods,"_ said Henry._ "Why's everyone crying or upset?"_

"_Sir Topham just told us that Molly and Neville have died,"_ Percy glumly replied, _"and that Gordon is very ill at Crovan's Gate."_

Henry's eyes opened wide in shock on hearing that piece of news.

"_That's where Molly and Neville were when they died," _continued Percy_. "He also said that we mustn't fight with the diesels any more or he'll have us all scrapped."_

Henry was very upset to hear that Gordon was ill, as the last he'd seen of his blue-coated friend that morning, he'd appeared to be quite well. _"What's wrong with him?"_ he asked.

"_I'm not sure,"_ replied Percy. _"Sir Topham didn't really say. Only that he went bad after touching Molly. What'll happen if one of us touches Gordon? Will we go bad as well?" _ he asked with a worried look on his face.

"_How do I know?"_ asked Henry. _"I'm a steam engine, not a fitter."_

"_It's very sad for Molly and Neville, isn't it,"_ murmured Percy. _"I didn't know them that well."_

"_Me neither. Where's Sir Topham now?"_

"_He's in his office, but don't disturb him, Henry, or he'll have you scrapped,"_ Percy said, worriedly.

"_Well, he's going to hear what this one has got to tell him,"_ snorted Henry, and dragged away the young boy towards the traffic office.

ooo

Jeanie entered the traffic office as a tall, green-coated man with a worried frown on his face and a bewildered-looking young boy were coming out. She knocked on Sir Topham's office door and went in when she heard him call, resignedly, for whoever it was to enter. She noticed that he, too, looked very worried.

"_Another problem?"_ she asked, coming to a stop a couple of feet in front of Sir Topham's desk.

Sir Topham looked up at her for a few moments before replying. _"Yes, but it's something I can't talk about yet, but if I may be so bold, have you spoken to your sister yet?"_

"_Yes. She was a bit sad that we couldn't go shopping today, but she was really pleased to hear that I've finally got a job."_

"_Take her shopping when you get your first pay cheque,"_ said Sir Topham. _"You can both make it a celebration."_

"_Yes, that would cheer her up,"_ agreed Jeanie, smiling. _"She also said that she wouldn't be offended if I couldn't stay this time, but first, I need to ask, why would you want me to have dinner with you tonight?"_

"_I'm inviting some others over as well, as we all need to get up to date on this crisis. I'll be re-showing those films and discussing the two engines that died today, as well as Gordon's current condition. We'll also be looking at that translation my father left. We are all railway engineers, and an accountant, so I would appreciate a different point of view as well, you know, what is it they say, thinking out of the left field?"_

"_I think you mean thinking out of the box, Sir Topham, but I doubt I could be much help with that, though,"_ said Jeanie, _"but if you think I can help, then okay, yeah, I'll come to your dinner tonight, than you for at least thinking I can help, but how do I get there? I don't have my car yet and I don't know where Hatt Hall is, and where will I be working every day? I need to know where to keep my car!"_

"_You can stay at Hatt Hall tonight in one of the guest rooms, and as it's not far from Knapford, where you'll be working from now on, you can use your car tomorrow. I'll have someone take it to Hatt Hall for you so you'll have your luggage back. Maybe you can stay here with your sister after all?"_

"_That would be great, Sir Topham. Thank you. I'll phone to tell her straight away!" _said Jeanie, smiling.

Her smile didn't last long, though, as she slowly bowed her head, contemplating how unexpectedly her life had changed since stopping her car earlier that day to assist an elderly gentleman in trouble. The injured Burnett Stone, the trip to the hospital with a seemingly deranged lunatic, meeting Sir Topham, her unbelievable trip to Hatt Hall by magic, the job offer, and then what she'd seen on the old film reels, meeting the former engines, and now this. She looked at her hands and slowly bent her left fingers back just to see if it was for real..._Yep, this is definitely for real,_ she decided, shaking her hand to clear away the ache she'd given herself.

Assuming that Sir Topham had just described his inability to speak of his new problem had to do with the railway magic not allowing him, simply shrugged her shoulders, and prepared to give him her report on how she'd got on so far with the former trains.

Sir Topham was worrying about what the former truck had told him before Jeanie came in, and he hoped that it was just an isolated case. Things would become very messy indeed it what the boy was experiencing started happening to the other former trains, he thought, though why it had manifested itself in one of the trucks rather than the more sentient engines, he didn't know and couldn't guess. On top of that, he had to rely on Henry, whom he'd ordered not to speak of the matter with _anyone_, to not only keep it a secret from his friends but to be alert to any of the other former trains saying that _they, _too, were experiencing something like what the boy had.

"_How did you get on, then?"_ Sir Topham asked her, seeing her look as though she were about to speak again. _"Oh, sit down, Jeanie."_

"_Thank you,"_ she politely replied, then, rather nervously, she said, _"I was sorry to hear you say that two engines had died. That must have been terrible for you. Er...is offering my condolences the right thing to do for something like that?"_

"_The thought is appreciated, Jeanie, thank you,"_ said Sir Topham. _"You wanted to speak to me about something?"_

"_Yes, Sir Topham. I managed to convince Daisy to return to the café and to sit with the other, er, women. I stayed with them for a short while and I noticed something very...strange, I suppose you could call it."_

"_What do you mean 'strange'?"_ asked Sir Topham warily.

"_Well, Daisy and..." _Jeanie paused, checking some notes she'd written on a notepad that Debra had given her, _"yes, Emily. They were both rather articulate when they were talking with me. Well, when I could understand what Emily was saying, that is. Henrietta told me that when she was still an engine, it was much easier to understand her, but I wouldn't know about that. Anyway, what I noticed was that Henrietta, to a certain extent and very definitely the former, er, trucks, as well, I noticed that they weren't, er, as bright as the engines, er, former engines. Gawd, it takes some getting used to remembering how to refer to them, doesn't it?"_

"_Yes,"_ smiled Sir Topham. _"I still have problems remembering!"_

"_Um...if it's not rude of me to ask, Sir Topham, but what do you think will happen with Gordon?"_

Sir Topham sighed deeply. _"I honestly don't know. I really hope he recovers, but he may stay ill or even die. Nothing like this has ever happened before with the trains, so I haven't a clue what to expect. We'll just have to wait and see. Was there anything else?"_

"_Yes. Did you know what that tall one, er, Diesel Ten did to the man that attacked Daisy?"_

"_Not really. Just that he saved Daisy. Why? What did Daisy say he did?"_

"_She said that he broke his arm with his claw,"_ said Jeanie, wondering how Sir Topham would react to the viciousness that Daisy's rescuer had demonstrated.

Sir Topham sat back in his chair and crossed his arms. _"Did he do anything else to him?" _he asked in an even tone of voice.

"_No, just that."_

Since becoming aware of the magic railways as a child, Sir Topham had formed a deep attachment towards all the sentient trains, and now, after the former truck's startling revelation, he was more determined than ever to save Lady and return them all to their former states. Knowing things that Jeanie could not possibly be aware of, or even consider remotely likely, he'd have to be very careful in how he asked her to be alert for those signs, as well as in the way she dealt with them.

He'd still have to have a word with that former diesel, though, just to make sure that he was aware of the seriousness of his actions and how they could affect the future of the magic railways.

"_You have to understand my position, Jeanie, when I say I'm glad that he didn't kill the man, so I'd like to leave it at that, if you don't mind, though I WILL be keeping an eye on him in future. Thank you for telling me that. I hope that Daisy will recover from what happened to her, but maybe with some, er, assistance from yourself she could be made aware that the way she talks and the things she says now could be...misinterpreted by actual people. I hope I haven't offended you with my, er, candidness?"_

"_Er, certainly not, Sir Topham. To be honest with you, when Daisy told me what Diesel Ten did, I was secretly, er, quite pleased. Take it from me as a woman, Sir Topham, after what that piece of scum did, he deserves what he got, but I have to say that Daisy does seem rather naïve, though."_

Sir Topham chuckled_. "She is rather...open in what she says, yes!"_

"_Percy, though,"_ said Jeanie, after checking her notes, _"well, he seems like a little school boy that's got a massive chip on his shoulder. He wouldn't stop moaning about the dies-, former diesels, especially Diesel Ten. What's with him, by the way?"_

"_Diesel Ten?"_

"_Yes."_

"_Right. Well, he's an adaptation of a British Rail Class 42 diesel locomotive,"_ said Sir Topham. _"Did you notice his artificial hand?"_

Seeing Jeanie's nod of confirmation, he continued with his explanation.

"_Well, that's what his bucket scoop transformed into when he, er, changed into a human. As a train, he usually worked at the scrap works, but he's also very useful for clearing rubble and other stuff that needs to be loaded onto the wagons. He's been a quite difficult engine to get on with over the years, though. Quite some time ago, he was causing all sorts of problems. Indeed, he even tried to destroy Lady a few years back. Fortunately, though, Thomas, that's one of the steamies that you haven't met yet, saved her after a long chase and Diesel Ten ended up falling off a bridge into a river. Luckily for him, Diesel Ten, that is, he landed on top of a refuse barge instead of in the river or else he'd have been ruined. _

"_He returned here some time after that, quite apologetic and feeling rather sorry for himself, and I had some strong words with him to make sure that he didn't go back to his old ways. He is right about the steamies, though. They think I don't know, but they do tease the diesels quite a lot as they see them as intruding on their territory, so to speak. They all have their own merits, but then again, they ALL can act like a bunch of children, squabbling over petty little things, and then at other times, they can really work hard together to get the job done. I just wish it was like that all the time."_

Sir Topham smiled as he cast his mind back to one such occasion. _"The runway of the airport got cracked when a water tower collapsed onto it whilst a plane was on its way to the island, and everyone, including Diesel Ten, all pitched in to get it repaired and the runway cleared of rubble just in time for the plane to land. It just goes to show what they're capable of doing if only they tried a bit better."_

She had spoken briefly with the tall, severe-looking former diesel, listening in silence as he heaped derision on the former steam engines for their self-importance whenever a new diesel arrived on the island, and as hard as she tried, she just couldn't imagine someone that mean-spirited willing to work with anything he considered as inferior to himself. She recalled when she was sitting in the café and just watching the way the former trains behaved and spoke amongst themselves, thinking that there was a close similarity to the way that people had fought against new machinery being invented during the industrial revolution. The steamies - she absolutely loved that name - appeared to be set in their ways and didn't like the newer technology of the diesels. They, on the other hand, saw the steamies as some sort of throwback to the past. She told Sir Topham of this, expecting him to rebuke her for her ignorance, but Sir Topham let out a loud laugh.

"_Yes,"_ he chuckled, _"that's exactly as I see it." _Still smiling, he added,_ "You have to understand, Jeanie, and should certainly know by now that when diesel engines are made, they are given sentience later in, er, historic terms than when the steam engines were made sentient. The, er, how can I put it...ah, yes, the general mindset of the times, influenced the level, no, the sentience of the newer engines, similarly, the steamies. I believe that's about the simplest way I can explain it."_

"_I think I understand, Sir Topham. I mean, it's not as though they're real people, is it?"_ laughed Jeanie.

Sir Topham just smiled in agreement. The magic of the railway was stopping him from talking any more on the subject, anyway. _"If you'll excuse me,"_ he said, suddenly desperate to change the subject, _"I have to telephone Barrow to stop Edward from coming to Sodor. I don't think it's safe yet to risk losing another engine, especially him, as he's the oldest one here."_

"_Of course, Sir Topham,"_ said Jeanie. _"I'll go and have a chat with Daisy again, like you suggested."_

"_Oh, Jeanie, before you go, I've had a message that both James and Thomas will be back soon. When they arrive, I'll be working with Debra in the outer office for some time sorting out where they'll all be sleeping tonight. Whilst my office is free, you can have a look through the folders in this drawer by here. There's notes and photographs of all the Sodor engines as they should look in their natural form. It'll help you when you talk with them to imagine them as the engines they once were."_

"_Thank you, Sir Topham. I'll do that,"_ said Jeanie.

ooo

As Jeanie entered the café, she saw Diesel 10 stooping over Daisy's shoulder, whispering something to her. After nodding her head and smiling back up at him, Daisy stood up and shifted her seat so that she was sitting with her back to where the steamies were sitting, but still close enough to hear them. Jeanie waited for a few more moments to see what was going to happen next but all that happened was that Diesel 10 started to walk towards where she was waiting by the doorway. _He's obviously showing SOME concern for her, judging by the way she smiled back at him,_ she thought. Feeling slightly nervous as the tall man approached her, she wet her lips with her tongue before speaking to him.

"_Diesel Ten,"_ she said, just loud enough for him to hear so that the steamies didn't kick off at what she had to say.

The enigmatic tall man stopped and stared unwaveringly down at her. _"Yes?"_ he gruffly replied. He noticed that she seemed rather anxious about something, and he'd become aware of her dislike towards him earlier when she'd gone round the café speaking to all the former trains, but he was quite surprised when he heard her say next.

"_Thank you,"_ Jeanie quietly murmured.

"_For what?"_ Diesel 10 growled.

"_You know..."_ Jeanie quietly prompted._ "What you did to that man that attacked Daisy. He deserved it."_

"_She was a fool,"_ he quietly snarled, not wanting the steamies sitting nearby to hear. _"She should have stayed here with all the others. We have to look out for ourselves now we are like...like this."_

"_You...you seem angry,"_ said Jeanie_. "If...if you want to ask me anything about, you know, human things, you can talk to me anytime."_

_Oh, why did I have to go and say THAT,_ she asked herself unbelievingly, but much to her relief, the tall man merely nodded once at her and stepped past her to leave the café. She turned and watched him as he started to walk to where a small, odd-looking contraption was parked on the track by the platform edge. Standing on the contraption was on of the former diesels she hadn't spoken to yet, but with only a few feet to go before Diesel 10 reached the edge of the platform, she saw a man in a brown boiler-suit, whom she assumed to be another former train that she hadn't meet, bumped into him, apologised, and then quickly walked away. _Maybe some of them have difficulty judging their manoeuvring after being used to travelling only on railway lines for so long,_ she mused, turning round again to go and sit next to where Daisy was now sitting.

"_Was he bothering you?"_ she casually asked Daisy.

"_Oh, no, not at all,"_ Daisy replied, leaning closer to Jeanie. _"It was a secret,"_ she conspiratorially whispered, glancing briefly over her shoulder to the steamies sitting at the table behind her.

"_You like him, don't you?"_ grinned Jeanie.

"_He's my hero,"_ gushed Daisy._ "He saved my swerves from that horrid man, you know!"_

"_Yes, I remember you telling me. Was he telling you that he liked YOU just now?"_ Jeanie asked, raising one of her eyebrows in query.

"_No,"_ Daisy replied sadly. _"He was reminding me to listen to the steamies in case they were planning to do silly things."_

"_What do you mean 'silly things'?"_ Jeanie asked her, thinking, _I thought the diesels didn't care much for the steamies. _

"_It's part of his plan to watch out for the other engines in case they get into trouble. He told me all about it. He's so wonderful, isn't he, caring for all of us like that!"_

"_I'm sure he is,"_ murmured Jeanie, o_r he's up to something._

Later that afternoon, Jeanie was pleased to meet the two of the former engines that had been out all day on with special tasks. One of them, as they entered the station café, was James, who looked quite resplendent in his shiny red leather coat, but despite his dismay at the bad news about Molly, Neville and Gordon, was a delight to listen to as he proudly boasted that he was as useful as his bigger friends after he'd been congratulated by Sir Topham for a job well done.

The other one, Thomas, was a short and stocky-looking man whom, after being reunited with his friend, Percy, was now also trying to distract him from his worries about Gordon by telling him and his own two former coaches, Annie and Clarabel, about the, for want of a better word, big surprise he'd had in Arlesburgh. Now, though, he was happy to be back in Knapford with, as Jeanie learned from one of the others, the two women that he pulled along on his own branch line when they'd been coaches, that is. She couldn't help liking his cheerful spirit, and especially his willingness to look after the two elderly women after their upsets earlier in the day when the two factions had fought on the platform. It was when she was looking at his blue coat while he was telling them all of how he'd fallen asleep during the car ride after leaving Knapford that morning that she suddenly had a flashback to the time her and her two flatmates had travelled on one of the old Sodor trains. _Oh God,_ she thought. _I think I might have been inside one of those women! _Her momentary horror was broken when she received a message from Debra that Sir Topham wanted to speak to her again.

Just before entering his office, she asked Debra how _she_ was managing to cope with the former trains.

"_I think of them as though they're foreign visitors,"_ Debra said to her. _"Speak slowly and don't use complicated words."_

"_I'll try that,"_ grinned Jeanie. _"It sounds a very good way of thinking of them,"_ she said, just before entering Sir Topham's office.

"_Ah, Jeanie. In a half-hour,"_ he told her as he gestured for her to sit down on the chair in front of his desk,_ "the coaches will be here to start picking up the former trains. There's not much for you to do here after that. Edward is currently parked up in the engine sheds at Barrow, and some of the former engines here have decided to stay in Tidmouth sheds overnight in case I decide that Edward can come back here in the morning, as long as there are no more nasty surprises during the night, that is." _

Jeanie sat down on the chair and crossed her legs, wondering if this was when he would say that he no longer needed her to work for him.

"_What you've experienced,"_ said Sir Topham,_ "and gone through today is, without doubt, totally unlike anything you could have ever imagined, and I have to say that you have coped with it most admirably. What I must ask you, though, is if you are happy to continue working for me, or do you wish to give me your notice? Hear me out, please, before you answer."_

"_I'm listening,"_ she said to him.

"_Jeanie, when you were looking through those folders earlier, you made a comment on how nice it was to see something historical such as the old-time steam engines. That got me thinking, and so I contacted some of the historical societies here on Sodor. Well, I'm pleased to say, I was very lucky to be told of a teacher at the comprehensive school in Kirk Ronan who's a bit of an expert, apparently. He goes touring around the mainland during the school summer holidays giving talks on the ancient Britons, and he's going to contact me sometime tonight when he gets home after school. I'm told he knows a fair bit about the myths and legends from ancient times, and he may know something that could help me to work out what that translation is trying to say, but he won't be ringing me until after eight o'clock tonight. _

"_As I said earlier, I'm having Peregrine and some others over for dinner tonight, so what I'm really asking is if you still wish to remain a part of the magical railways. If that fellow rings me as promised, and depending on what he says and how the meeting tonight goes, I can't honestly say what will happen afterwards or what decisions we may come to as regards our plan of action. I'm not saying that you'll be fired or anything, but the course we take may be something that you are not comfortable with. If that is the case, I will bear you no ill feelings if you should decide to hand your notice in. _

"_All this is something that none of us have ever come across before, and we may even find out that there's nothing we can do to save Lady. The gist of that translation is telling me that we are on the right road, but whether I'm right or wrong, we'll all know tonight. It could turn out that YOU may have a part to play in saving Lady, seeing as she apparently allowed Toby to speak of talking trains to you. If, on the other hand you think that it might be too much for you, I can use the magic whistle to return you to your car at St Tibba's after you hand your notice in, and then leave you to get on with your life. It's entirely up to you, Jeanie. How do you feel about that?"_

Jeanie took a deep breath, trying to think of how she could go back to a normal life after what she'd been through and experienced today. This was the moment when she had to decide what she wanted to do. Walk away and forget about the magical railways, and apart from lady speaking to her in her mind and sending her a mental picture of what she looked like, she hadn't talked with an actual train yet, or she could stay and maybe get the biggest disappointment of her life if nothing happened. _If I walk away, just think of what I could miss, but if I'm going to forget it all like he said I would this morning, how could I know if I've missed anything? Damn, this is so confusing! _

After her initial nervousness before meeting the former engines in the station café, she had found that answering their questions and watching them interact with each other, she felt she had a good idea how teachers felt after dealing with a class full of school children, and she was enjoying herself. What was more important to her, though, was the fact that Lady had actually spoken to her, and the memory of the engine's last words as she said goodbye had evoked a strong wish to help the poor engine. Picturing an intelligence of sorts within the little purple and gold steam engine that she had seen bot in her mind and on the photograph that Sir Topham showed her, she found that she couldn't walk away from this strange world she was in.

"_Sir Topham, you're right. Today has been so totally unreal. When I stopped for Toby this morning, I had no idea that everything that followed could have happened to someone like me, especially when I suddenly found myself appearing in the middle of your study by magic, and then what I saw on those old films, I thought I'd gone crazy and was hallucinating, and then Lady actually spoke to me. I...I would also like to meet Edward sometime to see if I can talk to real trains as well. If I can't, then I think I will give you my notice, but until then, I'm still anxious to know if I can, you know what I mean?"_

Sir Topham nodded his understanding. _"If you accept,"_ he said,_ "I'll tell one of the drivers or fitters to take it to Hatt Hall for you. It'll be quite safe there, and besides, they'd be happy for the overtime!"_

"_Sir Topham, thank you for what you've shown and done for me today, and thank you for your kind offer. I want to help save Lady, so, yes, I'll stay."_

"_Wonderful,"_ said Sir Topham_. "Maybe tonight we'll have some good news instead of bad!"_

There was a knock on the office door and Debra came in.

"_Excuse me, Sir Topham, but the café has run out of food and there are several hungry, er, mouths wanting something to eat."_

"_Debra, my dear, tell them that if they can wait until they get to the camping grounds, I'll have food delivered to them."_

"_Right away, Sir Topham,"_ replied Debra, closing the door before returning to her desk.

"_Well,"_ grinned Sir Topham, _"I do believe the pizza deliverymen are going to be busy tonight!"_

In the traffic office, Debra and two of the hungry former trains looked oddly at the door to Sir Topham's office when they heard loud laughter coming from the two people inside.

ooo

As Splatter and Dodge brought the pump trolley to a halt alongside the diesel sheds, Diesel 10 was just about to climb down when Dodge called out, _"Hey, Boss, what's that in your pocket?"_

"_What are you on about?"_ asked Diesel 10.

"_There,"_ said Dodge, pointing. _"In your pocket. What's that thing sticking out?"_

Diesel 10 looked to his side and, sure enough, there was something white and flat poking out. He pulled it out, wondering how an envelope had gotten in there and turned it over to examine it.

"_Are you going to open it?"_ Dodge asked him.

"_I'll open YOU in a minute,"_ snarled Diesel 10, before tearing the envelope open and taking out the card that was inside.

"_What's it say, Boss?"_ asked Splatter.

"_Can you read?"_ said Diesel 10, glaring at Splatter.

"_I know what 'No shunting engines past this point' means," _he replied.

"_Well, I know much more than that, fool!"_ Diesel 10 growled back.

Written on the card was:

_Meet me at Compound 3, Brendam Docks, _

_tomorrow morning at 10.00 hrs, ALONE! T.H._

"_What's it say, Boss?"_ asked Dodge.

"_Was it given to YOU?"_ Diesel 10 asked him, menacingly.

"_Uh...no?"_

"_In that case, it's none of your business!"_ the green-suited man snarled in reply. _"Now, go and find something to do while I continue making my plans!"_

ooOOoo


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12 

Jeanie's car and luggage arrived at Hatt Hall just after seven p.m., and after Sir Topham thanked the driver, Jeanie unloaded and took her suitcase up to the guest room she'd been given to freshen herself up and change into something a bit more formal-looking than denim jeans and suede waistcoat.

Feeling more relaxed in a skirt and blouse, and wearing a light pair of short-heeled, open-toe sandals instead of heavy, steel toe-capped work shoes, she entered the family room where Lady Hatt was waiting for her with a glass of sherry.

"_Oh, Jeanie,"_ Lady Hatt warmly greeted her, _"I do like the way you've done your hair. I can never get mine to stay curly no matter what I do with it. It always just hangs straight down."_

"_Thank you, Lady Hatt,"_ replied Jeanie, accepting the offered glass. _"Most of the time, the only way I can manage to control it is to keep it in a ponytail."_

"_You don't need to be so formal with me, Jeanie,"_ the older woman said, as she sat down on one of the comfy-looking armchairs, inviting Jeanie to do the same. _"You're not in work now, so please call me Jane. It makes me feel old when people call me Lady Hatt. Stephen has ensconced himself in his study to read those notes of his, so whilst he's busy, please, tell me how your first day went. It must have been so exciting for you." _

"_Well...okay, er, Jane,"_ mumbled Jeanie, feeling awkward in the titled woman's presence. _"Thank you. Um, well, it took me a while to get used to talking to them actually...the former engines, that is. I just didn't know what to expect. I'd met Toby and Henrietta earlier this morning when they were, er, humans, and although they seemed...well, not quite a hundred per cent, if you know what I mean, I would never have thought that they used to be trains."_

"_Really?"_ enthused Lady Hatt. _"I haven't met any of them yet since they all, er, changed, but Stephen tells me that they're just like children that have suddenly becoming adult all of a sudden."_

"_Yes, I think that's a good way of putting it,"_ agreed Jeanie, taking a small sip of her sherry. _"When I first spoke with them many years ago, I noticed that the former engines were quite intelligent, considering what they were...are, though, but the coaches, sorry, former coaches and wagons, well, it was like they couldn't understand some things that you or I take for granted. They needed the, er, former engines to tell them what to do, and the youngsters, well, I just don't know why most of the trucks changed into young boys!"_

"_Really?"_ asked a puzzled Lady Hatt. _"How young were they?"_

"_Well, the former box wagons and tankers were in their early teens,"_ said Jeanie, frowning as she remembered her own surprise at seeing them, _"but some of the coal trucks were sometimes as young as eight or ten!"_

"_Eight or ten years old?"_ gasped Lady Hatt in shock. _"Whatever can that mean?"_

"_I don't know,"_ said Jeanie, taking another sip from her glass, _"but maybe Sir Topham's notes will explain it."_

"_What about the former coaches?" _asked Lady Hatt, hoping that the answer wouldn't be anything as shocking as what she'd just heard. _"Did you meet Annie and Clarabel?"_

"_Oh, yes!"_ said Jeanie, smiling as she pictured the two old dears.

"_What did they look like?"_

"_Tell me,"_ said Jeanie,_ "Have you seen that TV series 'Miss Marple', the one with the short, thin old actress? I can't remember her name, though."_

"_Oh, you mean Joan Hickson. Yes, I've seen one or two of them,"_ said Lady Hatt. _"Why do you ask?"_

"_Well,"_ grinned Jeanie. _"Imagine two Joan Hicksons and that's Annie and Clarabel for you, like two peas in a pod they are, and Henrietta looks just like that actress on 'Rising Damp', Frances de la Tour, I think her name is."_

"_I know that programme," _squealed Lady Hatt with delight.. _"It's one of my guilty pleasures, and from your description of Annie and Clarabel, that's just the impression I got when I spoke to them." _

"_What about Toby?"_ Jeanie asked Lady Hatt. _"Would you care to guess what, or rather, who he looks like?"_

"_Well,"_ said Lady Hatt, taking a sip of her own sherry, _"when I speak with Toby, I'm always reminded of the old medic from 'Dad's Army'. Have you ever seen that programme?"_

"_Oh, you mean the old man with white hair?"_

"_Yes, that's him, and have you met Thomas yet? He reminds me of Inspector Frost, that David Jason fellow from 'Only Fools And Horses'!"_

"_Yes,"_ laughed Jeanie, _"and just as cheeky!"_ _Well,_ she thought to herself. _She may be a Lady in a big house, but she certainly isn't above watching the telly like common people!_

"_We can have some fun doing this while we're waiting for Stephen's other guests to arrive,"_ said Lady Hatt, pouring herself some more sherry. _"You tell me the names of the engines you've met today, and I'll think of someone that they remind me of. I think it'll be quite amusing."_

"_Okay,"_ Jeanie agreed, finishing her glass and wondering if Lady Hatt would offer her some more. Although she'd very rarely drank sherry, she found this one to be quite nice, though a bit sweet. _"Well, the first ones I remember meeting when I arrived at Knapford Station were Percy and Diesel Ten. They had a bit of an argument and Sir Topham had to tell them off."_

"_Oh, they're easy,"_ said Lady Hatt, gesturing to Jeanie's glass with the sherry bottle to find out if she would like a refill. _"When I first saw Percy and heard him speak, I kept thinking of the little chubby schoolboy I read about in the 'Just William' books when I was young, but as for that Diesel Ten, well, when I met him, all I could think of was an evil gangster from one of those old black and white James Cagney films. Yes, just like James Cagney himself! That's who Diesel Ten reminds me of, but rather nastier, though if he's a person now, he'd have to be much taller and broader!"_

And so on the conversation went until Lady Hatt decided to give Jeanie a brief tour around the stately home in the half hour or so they had left before dinner.

Jeanie listened politely as Lady Hatt told her about the history of Hatt Hall and the Topham family. Before long, it was time to return to the dining room, just in time to see Sir Topham's butler wheeling in a trolley containing several silver-domed plates and bowls, to which Lady Hatt commented_, "Ah! Excellent timing! Have the guests arrived yet?"_

"_Only Messrs Percival and Browning have arrived so far, my Lady," _said Collins._ "Mr. Robbins has phoned to say he cannot make it here tonight, and although he hasn't phoned to cancel, Mr Harrington hasn't arrived yet."_

"_I see. Thank you, Collins,"_ Lady Hatt courteously replied. _"I do hope he hasn't been delayed by anything serious." _

Then, as the butler started to lay the covered food onto the table, she said to Jeanie, _"If you would care to sit next to me for dinner, then I'm sure I can save you from getting bored with the endless talk of railway matters that Stephen and the others will no doubt be doing during the meal!"_

Jeanie, catching sight of a rather large oil painting hanging above a fireplace, went over to study it. Sir Topham had told her that she would be meeting the other men tonight, but she was still feeling a bit tense nervous at having to face three strangers, and hoped that she could take her mind off her worries. She glanced back over her shoulder and replied, _"Thank you, Lady Hatt, though I'm pretty eager to listen to what they have to say, I hope I don't embarrass myself. This is all so new to me, so I don't think I'll have much to say tonight." _

Turning back to the painting, she then said to Lady Hatt, _"This is a rather magnificent painting. Is that Sir Topham's father?"_

"_No," _replied Lady Hatt. _"That's his grandfather, Topham Hatt. It was painted in nineteen twenty-four, a couple of years after those engines he's standing in front of came to Sodor. The green one is Henry. He came to Sodor in nineteen twenty-one, and the blue one is Gordon. You know, Gordon was the very first engine that Stephen introduced me to when we were courting. I was an only child, you see, and my father insisted that I sit on the board of directors to maintain the family's share interest in the Sodor Railways, which was when a very charming young man that was also on the board took an interest in me and, well, the rest is history, as they say." _

"_He looks so proud,"_ commented Jeanie, her artistic eye noting quite a bit of similarity in Topham's facial features to his grandson.

"_Yes,"_ agreed Lady Hatt. _"Topham worked very hard to set up the railways on Sodor. He was a very intense man, so it's been said, and later, when his son Charles took over the railways, he too, worked very hard, especially during his latter years. There's a painting of him in Stephen's study if you'd like to see it later?"_

"_I was in the study earlier today, when all of this...,"_ said Jeanie, waving her hands in front of her, _"started for me, though in my shock and surprise at the time, I didn't pay too much attention to my surroundings. I will look at it after dinner if I may, though?"_

But before Lady Hatt could answer, Jeanie's stomach rumbled quite loudly, and she wished the ground would open up and swallow her in her embarrassment. The only food she'd had since breakfast that day was a small plate of rissole and chips in the station café with some of the former engines, and she really couldn't wait to have some more food inside her. As her face reddened with shame, she stammered, apologetically, _"I-I'm so sorry, Lady Hatt! P-p-please forgive me?"_

"_Don't worry about it, dear,"_ replied Lady Hatt, smiling_. "Stephen's already told me that you've had a very long and busy day. I'm not surprised you're feeling hungry."_

Lady Hatt, turning to the butler, said, _"Collins, if you would be so kind as to go and drag Stephen and his friends away from the study. Tell them that there is a young lady here waiting for their presence before she can eat a much needed meal."_

"_Of course, my Lady,"_ he replied, trying hard not to smirk as he set the last of the bowls on the table before leaving on his errand.

ooo

Sir Topham put down the receiver after having a very long and interesting conversation with a man named Winston Hornby-Rees, the history teacher at Brendam School and, also, secretary of Sodor's Antiquities Club. He knew by the answers that the historian gave to his first few questions that their chat was going to be a long one, and so, as a courtesy, Sir Topham had told the man to hang up and that he would call _him_ back to save on his phone bill. Now, he glanced over at the clock on the mantelpiece and saw that it was almost a quarter to nine, and wondered what was delaying Lawrence. Dick Robbins, the manager of the scrapworks had phoned earlier to say that his pregnant daughter had gone into labour and that, although he would be staying at her house until the baby was born, could Sir Topham let him know in the morning of any progress they made during their meeting tonight.

Sir Topham looked down at the numerous notes he'd made during the call with the historian and wondered how all this new information could be tied in to the translation currently facing him on his desk. At the moment, he had no idea, but hoped that the forthcoming discussion over dinner would throw some light on it. Sighing, he glanced across to the two men that had come into the study during the conversation with Hornby-Rees and sat down the other side of his desk to wait for him to finish his phonecall. _"Good evening, gentlemen,"_ he said.

"_Good evening, Sir Topham,"_ they both replied.

"_Sam,"_ he said,_ "Peregrine has heard this earlier, but I would like to know what both of you think of when I read this to you. Think in connection to what's happened to Lady and our trains."_

He picked up the translation and started to read it aloud to them.

'_For the Great Darkness shall strike dow-'_ but a knock on the study door distracted him and he looked over, believing that it was Lawrence Harrington finally arriving, but saw his butler standing in the doorway.

"_Sir Topham, Lady Hatt is _strongly_ requesting your presence for dinner," _ he announced.

"_Thank you, Collins," _said Sir Topham. _"I hope she's not too cross with me for ignoring her all evening?"_

Collins softy cleared his throat before replying, _"She is rather concerned that your young guest is quite hungry after her long day, Sir."_

Sir Topham chuckled, then looked over to his two managers. _"We'd better get a move on, then, yes, gentlemen?" _

Sam Robbins, the manager of the diesel repair sheds, looked over to Peregrine Percival, and said in his usual gruff tone, _"Yar can tell who's in charge in THIS household, can't ya!"_

"_I agree,"_ he replied. _"I don't think we really want to incur the wrath of our gracious hostess, do we?"_

"_If you two would care to follow me?"_ said Sir Topham, rising up from his seat. He folded the translation, placed it in between the pages of his notepad and followed Collins towards the study door.

"_I wonder what's keeping old Larry,"_ Sam asked him.

"_He does have a fair distance to come, mind you," _answered Peregrine_._

As the men walked across the hallway towards the dining room, a chiming bell rang through the hallway. _"That'll be Lawrence, I would hazard to guess,"_ said Sir Topham. _"I'll let him in, Collins. If you'll take these two and tell my dear wife that I'm on my way?"_

"_Of course, Sir,"_ replied Collins. _"She'll be most pleased to hear that!"_

Sir Topham walked over to the entrance doors and opened them to reveal a very haggard and apologetic-looking Mr. Harrington clutching a briefcase close to his chest.

"_I'm sorry for being late, Sir Topham, but it's been...a bit of a nightmare, actually!"_ he panted, accepting Sir Topham's gesture to come in.

"_We'll discuss it as we eat, Lawrence," _Sir Topham said to him, wondering what else has happened. If it was serious, he thought, then he'd have been contacted, no doubt. _"Sam and Peregrine are both here, but Dick has urgent family business to attend to. You're just in time for dinner and Jane is rather anxious we start."_

"_Again, I apologise, Sir Topham. I've bee-" _

"_Don't worry about it. Apology accepted and reason understood. Come."_

He led Lawrence to the dining room and, saw Jane and Jeanie sitting and chatting together on one side of the long table while Sam and Peregrine stood just inside the doorway, waiting for their host to enter, Sir Topham gestured for the men to sit across the table from the two women.

"_Collins,"_ said Sir Topham, just as his butler started to commence serving their starter. _"We'll see to the food ourselves as we need to discuss some rather important Company Matters during dinner."_

"_I understand, Sir,"_ replied Collins. _"If that will be all, Sir Topham?"_

"_Yes, thank you, Collins. I'll ring if I need anything."_

"_Very good, Sir Topham,"_ said Collins, bowing slightly before turning to leave the dining room and pulling the two doors closed behind him.

"_Ah! Tomato soup for starters! Nice!"_ exclaimed Sir Topham as he sat down and picked up his soup spoon. Then, looking overto his wife, he asked,_ "If you'll forgive us, my dear, for talking business while we're eating?"_

"_Not at all, Stephen,"_ she replied. _"Maybe I can be of some to you with your problems?"_

"_I do hope so,"_ he said to her before turning to Lawrence, the senior of the two repair shed managers. _"Just briefly, what's the latest?"_

"_Well, Sir,"_ sighed the steamworks manager, accepting a bowl of soup from Lady Hatt with a smile and a nod of thanks, _"quite a few things, actually. I've been in touch with all the station masters and they've managed to locate and collect most of the rolling stock and get them to the various sites allocated to them. Several of the engines strongly desired to stay in their sheds for the night."_

"_Which ones?" _ asked Sir Topham.

"_Of the steamies, there's Thomas, Percy, James and Henry, together with a former truck that Henry found in the woods near Tidmouth yards. They want to be at Knapford to wait for Edward, if and when he returns. The truck...boy, though, was most insistent that he be allowed to stay with him."_

"_Yes, I can understand that,"_ said Sir Topham. _"Particularly after what he revealed to me earlier!"_

"_Henry or the truck, Sir Topham?"_ asked Lawrence, curious.

"_The truck, but I'll explain later. Who else wouldn't go?"_

"_Well, just them of the steamies. Emily and the others went with the former coaches and trucks to the camps. I think it's their 'maternal' instincts kicking in. They're acting like a bunch of mother hens."_

"_That's rather chauvinistic of you, Lawrence,"_ snorted Lady Hatt. _"Would you care to explain yourself?"_

Lawrence, with a startled look appearing on his face, opened his mouth to speak when Sir Topham cut him off.

"_You have to understand, my dear, when they were coaches, it was their duty to look after and care for their passengers. It's just a natural progression of that responsibility, you see?"_

"_If what I have learnt from Jeanie is correct, Stephen,"_ Lady Hatt said dryly, _"then ALL the coaches she's had a chance to meet so far have been female. Are there no male coaches?"_

"_Jane, my dear,"_ he started, slightly hesitant as he knew how strongly his wife felt about women's rights, _"during the early days of the railways and before they started to create the talking trains, that was the opinion of the time. It was very patriarchal. Men were in charge of everything and women were seen as only mothers and, well, bed mates. It's quite different now. Look at Daisy and Mavis. They are engines, a role that was once only considered right and proper for me-, male personalities."_

"_Then what about Emily?"_ asked an indignant Lady Hatt. _"And there's that other one, the one that's always chasing after Thomas like an infatuated schoolgirl, Rosie? And don't forget Molly. SHE'S a female and she's yet another female steamy!"_

Sir Topham closed his eyes and looked down on hearing his wife mention one of the engines that he'd lost for good earlier that day. He'd been about to explain that the female engines were seen merely as an experiment, a test to compare how the sexes compared to each other in their new roles, but his wife's last comment had saved him from yet another explosion of outrage. Instead, he opened his eyes and looked back up to his wife, and moistening his dry lips with his tongue, he said, "_Jane,...Molly died this afternoon."_

"_Oh, Good God! No!"_ gasped Lady Hatt, dropping her soup spoon and putting her hands in front of her mouth in her shock. _"Wha-what happened to her?"_ she stammered.

"_Her and Neville were in Crovan's Gate repair sheds last night when all the others were affected. For some reason we don't quite understand, both she and Neville stayed in their engine forms. They'd both been in extreme pain and despair all day until they...died this afternoon."_

"_THEY?"_ cried Lady Hatt, staring in alarm at her husband. Her hands dropped to the table and tightly clutched at the tablecloth on both sides of her soup bowl, causing Jeanie's glass of water to fall over and spill its contents. _"NEVILLE DIED AS WELL?"_

"_Yes,"_ her husband sighed, _"and when Gordon came went there this afternoon and came into contact with Molly, he-"_

"_NOOOOOOOOoooo-" _ wailed Lady Hatt, cutting of Sir Topham's words. _"NOT HIM!"_ she cried out loud, shaking her head side to side in denial. _"No. Not Gordon. NO. NO..."_

"_No, my dear, not Gordon,"_ said Sir Topham, getting up quickly from the table to go and comfort his wife. _"He's still alive,"_ he said, crouching down and hugging his wife closely. Looking to the steamworks manager for confirmation, he asked, _"Lawrence?"_

"_I checked on him just before leaving Crovan's Gate and he was sleeping comfortably. His temperature was down to normal, well, what we assume is normal for him, and he's no longer coughing or talking in his sleep. Whatever it was that affected him has gone its course."_

Sir Topham nodded once to acknowledge that piece of good news and resumed comforting his wife.

"_There, there, my dear,"_ he soothed. _"You hear that? Gordon's getting better now."_ _I hope,_ he silently added.

Catching Jeanie's eyes as she looked up after mopping up the spilt water, he nodded once to her and smiled apologetically. Jeanie smiled back, then frowned, feeling out of place all of a sudden.

"_Jane, my dear,"_ Sir Topham said, just louder than a whisper. _"Some of the things we'll be discussing here may be somewhat...upsetting on top of what you've just heard. Are you sure you want to stay?"_

"_I-I-no!"_ Lady Hatt quietly sobbed. _"I-I think I'll g-g-go for a lie-down. Jeanie, m-my apologies for leaving you in this way. I'll s-s-see you in the m-m-morning."_

"_That's alright, Jane...Lady Hatt. I understand."_

"_I'll be back soon,"_ Sir Topham said to his guests, as he gently ushered his wife out of the dining room and into the hallway. _"Please, continue with your meal,"_ he said, looking back over his shoulder.

The three men and Jeanie stared at each other for a few seconds, unsure how to break the silence after their hosts' departure, until Peregrine spoke up.

"_She was always very fond of Gordon. I can understand that as he was the first engine ever to speak to me as well, and knowing that two engines have died, and falsely thinking that he was about to say that Gordon had died as well, well, I think it was all a bit too much for her."_

"_Hmm,"_ hummed Jeanie, feeling she should somehow defend her only female company. _"It didn't affect me much when I heard about them. I suppose it's because I never knew any of them before."_

"_Yeah,"_ agreed Sam, nodding his head. _"Talking of that, how yar settling into all this, then, Miss?" _he asked, changing the subject as he saw quite plainly how uncomfortable she felt after Lady Hatt's upset. _ "And yar food's getting cold,"_ he added, as he reached across the table to pour her some water from a jug.

"_Th-thank you,...er..."_ she murmured, picking up the now three-quarter filled glass to take a sip.

"_Sam Browning,"_ the man sitting opposite her said, offering his hand across the table. _"I manage the dieselworks where we fix 'em up when they go wrong. Though I don't know why Sir Topham didn't introduce you to us when we came in. He must have a fair bit on his mind. Usually, he's quite the epitome of politeness."_

"_Jeanie Watkins,"_ she replied, accepting the handshake with a nervous smile._ "Nice soup, isn't it?"_ she asked. _"Very...tomato-ish."_

"_Lawrence Harrington,"_ the other unfamiliar face said, as he, too, offered his hand to Jeanie. _"And I take care of the steamies when they breakdown."_

"_How do you do?"_ she said, accepting his handshake as well. _"Do they breakdown often, then?"_

"_They breakdown more than my bunch of rogues do,"_ said Sam, sarcastically, just before Lawrence could answer Jeanie's question.

"_Only because they're older," _retorted Lawrence. _"Anyway, they're cleaner to repair than your greaseballs."_

"_That's only 'cos mine work harder than yar preening puffballs,"_ Sam fired at him.

"_And so they should," _snapped Lawrence, _"if they think they can replace my steamies!"_

"_It's not to late to admit mine can do yar lot's work just as well, better even!"_

"_Horses for courses!" _

"_More like old nags!"_

"_Pure-breds!"_

"_Pure scrap!"_

"_Resilient!"_

"_Redundant!"_

Jeanie, her head turning back and forth between the two arguing managers as though she were at a tennis match, was horrified that her simple question had set them off to argue just like the green-coated Percy and Diesel 10 had that afternoon in the café, looked open-mouthed to Peregrine, who merely winked back at her with a subtle shake of his head and a rueful smile. Meanwhile, the two managers continued their battle of words...

"_Ancient!"_

"_Arrogant!"_

"_Antiques!" _

"_Belligerent!"_

"_Boastful!"_

"_Conniving!"_

"_Dysfunctional!"_

"_Evasive!"_

"_Failures!"_

"_Greaseballs!"_

"_FORFEIT!"_ cried Peregrine, cutting into the argument. _"You've already said that, Lawrence. Sam wins this time."_

"_Damn,"_ said Lawrence, looking defeated. _"Just as I was getting into my stride."_

"_That's a pint of bitter you owe me,"_ said Sam, smiling in triumph at his fellow repair shed manager. _"It's your own fault,"_ he added, _ "for trying to be clever and going alphabetical on me."_

For the next few minutes, while they finished their rapidly cooling their soup, Jeanie brought Lawrence up to date with what she'd learnt of the Sodor Railways so far, finishing with a question that had been puzzling her for most of the day.

"_Tell me, Mr. Harrington, Why d-"_

"_Please, Jeanie, call me Lawrence."_

"_Okay...Lawrence, tell me, if you can, why do I have this feeling that everything seems to be right? No, not the thing that's wrong with the trains and all that, the feeling that it's right that trains can talk and what have you. It's just that...I feel as though I should be, I don't know, I should be saying that none of all this can possibly be true."_

Lawrence put down his spoon and picked up a bread roll to mop up the remains of his soup before replying. It was something he'd asked himself a long, long time ago, and still wasn't too sure of the veracity of what he was about to say.

"_I've learnt over a long time that it's just the nature of the magic of the railways. I work with a talking engine at the repair sheds every day, and I still feel wonder whenever I talk to an engine and it, rather, he, replies to me. It's a shame there's none here for you to actually speak with one."_

"_Yes,"_ agreed Jeanie. _"I'm hoping that if Edward can return, that I can talk to him. That'll tell me for sure that all this isn't some kind of weird dream I'm having,"_ she explained, smiling. She suddenly felt nervous as she thought about revealing what else had happened to her. _"I...I have had Lady speak to me, though!"_

"_Really?"_ asked Sam. _"When was that?"_

"_It...it was this afternoon. After we watched those old film recordings in Sir Topham's study."_

"_Old film recordings?" _repeated Sam. _"What have yar be up to, eh, Peregrine? Mucky films in Sir Topham's study with this charming young lady? Does he know about this?"_

"_You and your dirty mind," _smirked Peregrine. _"It'll get you into trouble one day!"_

"_She sent me a mental picture of herself,"_ said Jeanie, anxious to get the topic over, as well as feeling a bit awkward amongst these men that obviously knew each other quite well whilst she was new to all this.

"_What did she say to you?"_ asked Lawrence.

"_She said...she said that I was to believe in myself and that...that she was afraid. I think she meant that she was...she was afraid of dying."_

"_Did she say anything else to ya?"_ asked Sam, looking very interested.

"_N-no, not really. But after hearing her, I...I felt so sorry for her, and Sir Topham has really helped me to get used to the idea of all this magic railway stuff and...and after meeting the former trains this afternoon, and now being with all of you,..."_

"_Don't you worry about us,"_ said Sam. _"Though I feel Larry and I owe yar an apology for our...battle of wits just now. It's something we have fun doing when the three of us are together."_

"_Yes," _agreed Lawrence. _"Sorry if you thought it was for real, but I'm pleased to hear that Lady actually spoke to you. She's a lovely engine, not like those greaseballs that Sam thinks are railway engines."_

"_Hey, haven't yar lost once already tonight?" _grinned Sam.

Lawrence, looking contrite, held his hands up in submission, while Peregrine glanced over to the food trolley and said, _"Gentlemen, and Lady, Sir Topham DID say to carry on with our meal, didn't he?"_

"_I believe he did,"_ agreed Sam, looking over at the same covered dishes_. "Do you think we should...?"_ he asked, turning his head to look at Jeanie, raising an eyebrow questioningly.

"_Well, Sir Topham did say for us to carry on eating...though, I'd rather you all go first,"_ she said, not wanting to appear rude.

"_Right, what do we have in here, then?"_ Lawrence asked rhetorically, getting up and walking over to the food trolley and lifting off the largest of the covered bowls. He removed its cover once he'd placed it on the long table to reveal a very mouth-watering braciole with grape tomatoes.

"_Mmm!"_ said Jeanie. _"That looks nice. What is it?"_

"_Steak of some sort,"_ he replied to her, frowning. _"Hmm, more tomatoes,"_ he muttered dubiously, looking at what was next to the rolled-up steak.

"_Smells lovely,"_ sighed Jeanie. _"Are you going to cu-"_ but just then the dining room doors opened and Lawrence guiltily snatched his hand back from where he was about to pick up a carving knife, looking caught red-handed as Sir Topham entered the dining room.

"_Ah, good! Carry on, Lawrence,"_ he ordered. _"Help yourself. Let's not stand on ceremony, shall we? There's a lot of things to discuss tonight. Lawrence, you serve the meat. Ooh, that looks nice. Sam, if you can see to the potatoes? Peregrine, if you'd be so kind as to serve the vegetables. I'll get the brandy. Jeanie, do you...?"_ Sir Topham hinted as he gestured to the decanters atop a very ornate-looking sideboard standing a few feet behind him.

"_Oh, no, Sir. Wine will be just fine for me, if that's all right, Sir Topham? I don't normally touch spirits."_

"_Not to worry, Jeanie, we're all friends here and wine for the lady will be just fine."_ Sir Topham returned to the table a tray containing a full decanter, four brandy glasses and a corkscrew which he managed to set down onto the table without knocking anything over. _"Now then, Lawrence, what were you were saying before I had to leave?"_

"_Ah,"_ he replied, pausing his meat-cutting to recollect just what he'd been saying. _"...yes. Gordon is a lot better now and is sleeping comfortable. How is Lady Hatt, by the way?"_

"_She's settling down for a nap,"_ said Sir Topham, nodding as he accepted Peregrine's offer of some sprouts, _"though I don't think we'll see her again tonight. Anyway, what's the situation with the...stock and their placements?"_

"_Well, as I was saying about the steamies, the...males want to stay in their engine sheds, and also Daisy, but Mavis has gone with some the former trucks and also, believe it or not, Bill and Ben, to the camping site outside Brendam. She was ordering the twins about like nobody's business."_

"_Good," _ mumbled Sir Topham, chewing a piece of his steak. Once his mouth was empty, he said, _"I could easily see those two getting into all sorts of trouble. Now, what about the others? You said they've located _most_ of the stock?"_

"_Yes,"_ replied Lawrence, having finished sharing out the meat he'd cut and sitting down before he continued. _"Unfortunately, there are several that they can't find. It's better if you look at the lists I've got." _He reached down and picked up his briefcase to take out a folder and handed two sheets of paper to Sir Topham, who quickly ran his eyes across the headings and down the columns of names and categories.

"_I see,"_ Sir Topham said gloomily, handing the lists to Sam for him to have a look. _"I'll let the police know that if they come across any men, women or children acting out of the ordinary to get in touch with me. It shouldn't be too difficult to locate Donald and Douglas, though, if I think they'll appear as I can imagine them to be. Just look for two Scottish identical twins arguing with each other!"_

Lawrence snorted with amusement, having to resort to taking several sips of water to settle himself. _"I...I can just imagine," _ he chuckled, whilst Jeanie looked on somewhat bemused. _"Have you ever seen 'Porridge' on TV?"_ he asked her, seeing her puzzled look.

"_Yes,"_ she said. _"Why?"_

"_One of the prisoners was a coloured Scottish fellow. 'Jock', I think his name was."_

"_Yes, I remember him,"_ replied Jeanie. _"He was funny, some of the things he said."_

"_Well, imagine two of him always quarrelling with each other. That's Donald and Douglas for you."_

"_I think I can imagine,"_ grinned Jeanie.

"_I hope they'll all be safe overnight," _ muttered Peregrine, trying to imagine what it was like to be in a strange place, well, not so strange, as the former trains pretty well knew what the towns and countryside looked like, but coping in their 'new' environment would be a struggle for them, he thought.

"_How's your own engine, Lawrence?"_ Sir Topham asked._ "Where is he staying tonight?"_

"_He's bedding down in the first-aid room to be near Gordon in case he wakes up. When your secretary phoned me, I told her that it'll be more efficient for the coach companies if they didn't have to collect every waif and stray when it would be easier to leave some of them where they are, well, the more trusted ones, that is. I hope you don't mind me altering your plan?"_

"_No, not at ll. It was good thinking on your part, Lawrence. I hope they're all sorted out by now,"_ said Sir Topham, glancing at his pocket watch. _"The miniature engines at Arlesburgh? What about them, anyone?"_

"_Gerald and Betty are looking after them,"_ said Peregrine._ "Betty lives alone in that big house of hers, and Gerald has a spare bedroom with a bunk bed in it that his grandchildren sometimes use."_

Jeanie, listening to the discussion, recalled what the blue-coated former engine, Thomas, had said when he was telling everyone in the station café of his trip in the taxi that morning. From the way the excited man had described the former miniature engines, it seemed like he was describing midgets, but that couldn't be right, she thought, _though the two I saw with Mr Percival this afternoon were apparently smaller than the others I've met. Narrow-gauge or something, I think_. _He must have confused the ones he saw with children, surely?"_

"_I phoned St. Tibba's earlier to find out about Burnett Stone,"_ said Sir Topham, causing Jeanie to abandon her thoughts of not-so tall former engines.

"_Oh, how is he?"_ she asked, eager to hear how the injured man that had been the original cause of her introduction to the magic railways was faring.

"_He's doing very well,"_ Sir Topham replied. _"The operation to set his broken arm went well and they're keeping him in overnight for observation. No doubt to watch out for any bad reaction to his concussion. All being well, they should let him out sometime tomorrow afternoon, though he'll have to stay here at the Hall until it's safe for him to go back to Shining Time, of course."_

"_Oh, that's great news,"_ smiled Jeanie. She'd been quite concerned for him after he'd collapsed inside the phone kiosk. _"I'm glad Gordon's getting better as well,"_ she added.

"_Jeanie,"_ a solemn-voiced Sir Topham then said to her. _"I want to thank you for what you did for Burnett this morning. It could have ended so much worse for him."_

"_It-it was nothing, Sir Topham,"_ stammered Jeanie, blushing. _"I was only glad to help. After all, I'm here now because of all that and...and I'm glad, in a sense. It's all been so fascinating, even if it has been confusing to me."_

"_You'll get used to it, I can assure you,"_ said, Sir Topham, nodding his head. _Yes, the railway magic will take care of that for her,_ he thought. _"Now, the replacement bus services have all been booked until further notice, and the only other thing I want to settle for now, other than the translation which we'll look at later, is what to do about Edward. Lawrence, what do you think?"_

"_Well, Sir Topham, I know that he's been nagging the officials at Barrow to let him onto the island, but your secretary insisted that you wanted him to stay there for now."_

"_Hmm...yes,"_ he said after some deliberation. _"The situation with Gordon is looking positive, so, if he doesn't relapse overnight...Lawrence, first thing tomorrow, check that Gordon isn't any worse and, if he's okay, you can tell Barrow to let Edward onto the island. They are to tell him to come to Tidmouth Sheds as quickly but as carefully as possible, also, his driver is to be in control at all times during the journey back and he is to stop and return to Barrow the moment either he or Edward feels that anything is wrong, understood?"_

"_Yes, Sir Topham. I'll do that,"_ agreed Lawrence.

"_Would you agree with that, Sam, Peregrine?"_

"_Yes,"_ said Sam. _"It's what I would do."_

"_And me,"_ agreed Peregrine.

By now, all present had cleared their plates. Some of then were wondering if their dessert would in any way be connected to tomatoes, and as Sir Topham got up and gingerly lifted the cover of the last remaining dish on trolley, he let out a non-committal, "_Hmmm!"_

"_Well, how about that?" _ he said. _"Black Forest gateaux and...no tomatoes!"_

Jeanie's eyes met Mr. Harrington's and they both smirked.

"_Everyone?"_ Sir Topham queried.

"_Ooh, yes, please,"_ they called out together.

After eating their dessert amidst general chatter as the men caught up with each other's personal lives and families, and devoid of any more talk about troubled trains, Sir Topham rang for his butler to clear the table away and then invited everyone to his study to discuss the translation and the information he'd been given by the historian, Winston Hornby-Rees. Before that, though, Sam and Lawrence had to see what was on the old film reels.

ooo

"_Bugger me!" _exclaimed Lawrence, seeing the strange glyphs that the engineers were marking the boiler of the small engine. _"Sir Topham, can you pause that thing?"_

Sir Topham complied and, looking at Lawrence, asked, _"Do you know what they are?"_

"_Even better than that,"_ replied the repair shed manager._ "In all the tonight's_ _excitement, I'd forgotten about the photograph. Hang on..."_ he added, picking up his briefcase and took out the snapshot he'd taken at Crovan's Gate that afternoon. Handing it to Sir Topham, he said, _"This is what I took of Gordon's chest after Dennis took his coverings off. Can we have the lights on, someone?"_

The room lights came on as Sam carried out his colleague's request, allowing Sir Topham to see clearly what was on the photograph. _"Dear Lord," _he gasped.

He walked over to the screen and held the photograph up to compare the brandings on the former engine's chest with what he could make out on the projector screen. _"They're the same!" _he said, disbelievingly. Turning to the others in the room, he called them over to have a look and handed the photograph to Peregrine.

"_Christ on a bike!"_ "_What on Earth?"_ "_Oh, that poor engine!"_

"_Sir Topham,"_ said Lawrence. _"Did you see the straight scar where his heart is...should be?"_

Sir Topham took the photograph back from an aghast-looking Peregrine and strained his eyes, trying to focus on one small part of the picture, and said, _"Yes, I see it. What of it?"_

"_There are stitch marks on either side of it,"_ said Lawrence.

"_Stitch marks?"_ asked Sam, frowning. _"What are yar on about? He's a bloody steam engine, for fuck's sake!" _

Sir Topham was staring into space, ignoring the protestations going on around him as a series of thoughts clicked into place inside his mind. The answer had been there all along, but only now was the idea rising to the surface for him to see its horrible and terrifying truth.

"_No..."_ he gasped. _"That can't be true!"_

Putting the photograph down on his desk, he went over to his trunk and quickly unlocked it. After lifting out the smaller chest from inside and placing that on his desk and unlocking that, he emptied it of its contents and spread them out on the floor in five piles.

"_Everyone,"_ he said, picking up the uppermost sheet of paper and running his eyes down its content, _"I want you to grab a pile each and go through everything. Look for anything that mentions those markings."_

The others all went to a pile each and started to do as he asked, turning over the pages and letters they'd looked through in a separate pile, but most of what they were seeing were merely notes of Sir Topham's father and grandfather's thoughts as they planned the setting up of the different Sodor railways that had existed over the years. There were also original bills of sale for the engines and railway stock, as well as normal business transactions, timetables, newspaper cuttings of people's deaths, people that they assumed were family members that had met with various accidents or such.

There were also a lot of old sepia-coloured photographs of trains in various actions such as shunting or pulling coaches through the countryside or railway station, or even stationary as though they were actually posing for the photograph. All in all, it was a fascinating and unique look at the history of the Sodor railways, but because it was split into separate piles, no-one actually pieced together what that history actually told, but then it was Sir Topham himself that struck gold, metaphorically speaking, as he called out excitedly, _"I've found something!"_

As he stood up, groaning at the ache he was feeling in his lower back, the others looked to him and saw him holding a collection of what looked like a dozen old photographs held together by a thin piece of ribbon tied around them. Turning them over and flicking through them like one would a deck of cards to see whether they were in order or not, he said, _"There's dates and times written on the backs. They were all taken on the same day but...hours or minutes apart in some cases. Wait a moment..."_

He went back over to his desk and, bending the bundle of photographs slightly, he jiggled the piece of ribbon off from them, then, after checking the times written on their backs, placed the photographs in a long row along its front edge. Then he looked them over properly for the first time...and bowed his head. The others in the room watched him pick up the last of the photographs and go over to where he'd put the brandy decanter he'd brought in with him from the dining room. He poured himself a generous measure and drank it in silence, then he turned to the others as they wondered what he'd possibly seen to cause such a reaction and, quietly, he said to them, _"Take a look."_

The first of the old, grey photographs showed an oblique view of two large concentric circles surrounding a five-pointed star that was chalked or painted on what looked to be a smooth floor, the size of the star and circles clearly made apparent by the supine form of a naked, fair-haired or blonde woman laying inside the smaller circle and atop the painted lines that made up the star. Her head, arms and legs were each aligned towards a point of the star. Drawn within the band formed by the two concentric circles were glyphs that were unlike any of those that had been marked on the engine on the film they'd seen nearly twenty minutes ago. None of people in the room could make head or tail of them, nor why various objects had been placed at the points of the star. By the point above the woman's head was a chalice that appeared to be filled with a clear liquid of some sort. The points her outstretched arms were pointing to each had a lit candle by them, and her spread-eagled legs each pointed to a lump of dark or black rock. All of these things drew gasps of wonder and curiosity from the men and woman looking at the photograph, but the cries of shock that Sir Topham heard them make were from seeing that the same glyphs within the concentric circles had been branded onto the woman's naked body.

"_What the fuck?"_ gasped Sam.

"_It looks like something from a black magic ritual,"_ said Jeanie. _"What's the hell has this got to do with making sentient trains?"_

"_Wait until you've seen the rest of the photographs,"_ Sir Topham called over. _"You may recognise something, Lawrence, and you all, will see something of the magic railways that, I can guarantee, no-one else alive today has seen."_

The second photograph was equally as puzzling, as it appeared to have been taken inside a circus or zoo, as all anyone could see in the picture was a man running towards the camera, holding his outstretched hands in front of him as though stopping the photographer from taking the picture, or, from a different point of view, trying to obscure what was behind him. Behind the protesting man could be seen a large tarpaulin-covered cage atop a horse-drawn wagon, but all they could actually see was some straw on the cage floor.

The third, and then the fourth photograph shocked Jeanie so much that she cried out. The woman laying on the ground now appeared to be engulfed in a fire that, according to the fourth picture, had roasted her so much that her skin was now completely blackened.

The fifth photograph showed a robed man crouching inside the cab of what Lawrence recognised as being that of a small steam engine, and he was holding a large white gemstone near the opened door of the engine's firebox.

"_It's a facet!"_ he exclaimed.

The sixth was of the same robed man, but this time he was standing in front of the engine's opened smokebox, again holding a white gemstone. It was clear to them all now that it wasn't a large steam engine at all.

The seventh photograph showed several more robed men holding the folded corpse of the burnt woman as they placed it inside the smokebox as though they were trying to keep it from falling out.

The eighth showed the closed smokebox, but this time, the entire engine appeared to be engulfed in flame just as the prone woman had been, only this time, much more intense. It seemed, though, unless it was a trick of the light, that the flames were being pulled around the top of the engine's to surround it.

The ninth photograph showed something similar to what Peregrine and Jeanie had seen earlier that day. This time, though, there was no flame or fire around the engine, only what looked like a cloud of white or grey smoke that appeared to be wound around the engine's boiler in a thick spiral, leaving the only parts that could be recognised by any of the shell-shocked group as being part of a steam engine were the front of the smokebox with its tall and narrow fluted funnel and its cab. Jeanie heard Lawrence suddenly gasp as he pointed a shaking finger at the photograph.

"_I'm pretty damn sure I've seen an engine like that sometime before now,"_ he said.

"_You remember our overseas visitor a few years back?" _ Sir Topham asked him.

"_You can't be serious!"_ exclaimed Lawrence, quickly turning away from the desk to stare at the grim-faced owner of Sodor Railways, but all that Sir Topham did in response was to raise up the hand still holding the last photograph and turn it so that it was facing his onlookers. One by one they stepped forward for a closer look and, Lawrence, slowly shaking his head side to side, gasped, _"Oh, no way in hell! Surely that isn't HER?"_

Jeanie stepped forward for a closer look as well, and she, too, recognised the small engine, despite the unfamiliar but beautiful woman's face that projected out from the front of the engine's smokebox door.

Staring in wonderment at the old photograph, she said, reverently, _"That...that's Lady!"_

ooOOoo


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13 

It is said by some that a person's eyes are the mirror of their soul, and the longer Jeanie stared at the round, youthful face on the front of the engine in place of its normal smokebox door, the more she found her gaze captured by the total innocence and purity of the woman's eyes, but there was something else in those eyes as well, and it bothered her. She was trying to imagine what it must have been like for the anonymous woman to suffer such brutal immolation before her dead body was forced into that small and unorthodox place for...forever? _No, damn it! _she thought to herself. _That was no process! That was some sort of black magic ritual that actually fucking worked!_

Something was nagging at her, though, and, oblivious to the heated arguing and curses of the other men in the room as they expressed their horror over the way Lady, the magical engine, was created to Sir Topham, she went back to the photographs laid out on the floor and studied them more closely. Looking again at the one of the woman's body laying in the circle after she'd been burnt, she focused her gaze on the woman's blackened face for a few seconds before moving over to look at the one that had subconsciously started the terrifying line of thought currently driving her actions. _Oh, God, No!_ Jeanie suddenly thought, _That just CAN'T be right, there's no way..._but there in front of her, the truth was evident.

In the photograph of the robed men that seemed to be _stuffing her body into_ _the front of a steam engine,_ where the woman's head had fallen to one side as the men held her charred body, her eyes were..._Yes, they're open!_ The supposedly dead woman's eyes were actually open, and she wasstaring at the camera as though sending a desperate plea to whomever should look at that photograph in the future and see it for what it was. To Jeanie, staring at the woman's eyes, the same eyes she'd seen in the photograph that Sir Topham was still holding, it was definitely a beg for help. S_he was still alive when they put her in there! Oh, dear God! _

The idea was ridiculous. The depravity of what she'd just been imagining as going on over a century ago in that unknown place whilst the photographer took his pictures, the pain the woman must have gone through as that burst of intense flame seared and scorched her flesh, and...and then, staring at those very same wide-open and love-filled eyes looking back at her in the final picture, those eyes had also been asking for help. That was what Jeanie had seen, and as she turned to Sir Topham to tell him of her discovery, her mouth open as she tried to find the right words, her throat suddenly hitched and tears started streaming down her cheeks.

The increasing volume of the two engineers as they questioned Sir Topham, demanding to know if he was already aware of these macabre deeds of long ago of was brought to a sudden halt by the sound of Jeanie's loud sobbing, and Sir Topham rushed over to her, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and gently pulling her away from the line of photographs. _"Come, Jeanie,"_ he gently soothed into her ear. _ "Come and sit down for a moment."_

"_Sh-sh-she was alive! She was still alive w-w-when they d-d-did that to her!"_ she sobbed, shuffling slowly across the study.

Reaching into his pocket with one hand, he withdrew a clean handkerchief and pressed it into her trembling fingers. _"Wipe your eyes, my dear. It's all right,"_ he gently told her, and for the second time that evening, Sir Topham found himself comforting a grieving woman. For a brief moment, he pondered over the fact that he'd not yet been allowed to deal with his own reaction and feelings about what had happened to his engines, especially with this damning discovery about Lady. All day long, he'd had to deal with one problem after another and he'd only had a few, sparse moments during that time to think over how it must be for the former trains to find themselves in their new environment, and now, knowing the truth of how the magical engine had been created, his only consolation, by luck or providence, he thought to himself, was that his wife wasn't there to see those bloody photographs.

Donald and Douglas being arrested by the police that afternoon for brawling in the middle of Arlesburgh High Street had killed any hope he had of going to Muffle Mountain and seeing Lady, as it had taken him quite some time to convince the police there that the belligerent twosome would be adequately kept under control in his custody_. Maybe it was better that I didn't go there, knowing what I do now, _he thought._ I don't know if I'd have thought of opening her smokebox, and if I go there tomorrow and open it then, what will I find inside? Surely, though, Burnett MUST have opened her smokebox sometime in the past when he was repairing her, and he's never said ANYTHING about finding a body inside! Was it just HER body that they did THAT to? Hang on...did they actually leave it in the smokebox, or was it just symbolic of what they wanted to happen at the end of the ritual? Where exactly is the engine's sentience located? The only way I might find out is to go through all that paperwork tonight before I go to bed. Damn and blast!_

Neither Sam nor Lawrence had EVER reported finding anything unusual inside the engines that they'd had to repair in the past, nor Dick over in the scrapworks when he'd had to take apart trucks that were too old or too damaged to carry on working.

For almost five minutes he held onto the weeping woman as they stood next to his chair before she seemed to gather herself together enough to stop crying. _"Sit down, Jeanie,"_ he said, supporting her weight as she lowered herself down and hunched over, holding her face in her hands.

Lawrence and Percival looked on as Sir Topham comforted Jeanie after her upset, telling her that they'll talk about it after they've all had a short break, whilst Sam went over to the drinks cabinet and poured himself a scotch.

Percival knew what it was that kept him working as the manager of the quarry, and despite his initial horror on seeing that last photograph, he knew that he couldn't just walk away from it that easily. Consciously, he wanted to reject the very fact that a woman had been burnt to death to create a sentient engine, but he knew that he couldn't do it that easily. He wanted nothing to do whatsoever with what he took to be a ritualistic murder, but handing his notice to Sir Topham wasn't an option, either. He knew what happened to people that retired after most of a lifetime working on the magic railways, and it wasn't nice. A few years ago when old Harry Trubshaw had been looking forward to his retirement after being a driver at the quarry for almost thirty years, and waking up the morning after he'd retired feeling that he'd forgotten something really important, and that feeling staying with him every day for the rest of his life had almost driven the poor man insane.

Now, old Harry was like an empty shell, spending his last few years in a care home, constantly asking his fellow retirees if they knew what it was he was supposed to remember. He knew that he'd been a train driver, but that was about all he could recall of his working life, and he wasn't the only long-term employee that had suffered like that. Doctors had put it down to the shock of finding their lives empty of proper meaning and recommended that they find a new hobby or something to keep their minds active, but it never worked out, and Percival shuddered. It was a constant reminder that that would more than likely be his own fate as well, and it wasn't at all what he wanted for himself. The only ones that seemed to maintain sanity after leaving their jobs were the lucky ones that had handed their notice in or were sacked after only a few years in the job. Working long-term for the Sodor Railways was a curse.

He knew, though, that he'd do what ever Sir Topham asked of him in order to get the job done, and merely looked down silently at the incriminating photographs in the centre of the room. He hadn't read any of the notes that Sir Topham's father had left, and he thought that it was unlikely he ever would, but he'd been intrigued by some of the stuff that he'd noticed as they'd quickly scanned through their various piles as they'd looked for any mention of the strange glyphs and markings. It seemed that Sir Topham's father and grandfather had had an interest in the old workhouses that used to take in the poor and the unemployed. _No doubt, _Percival thought to himself, _to be seen by their peers as charitable businessmen that donated money to those in greater need. _

He could see by the way that Sir Topham's eyes were squeezed shut that there were obviously some strong and intense emotions going on in the man's mind, and, rather uncharitably, Percival felt morbidly pleased that managing the quarry and the narrow gauge engines in no way bore the responsibilities that that man obviously had to bear on his shoulders.

What Lawrence was feeling now compared to when he'd looked over the row of photographs, if he was asked to describe it, was not much more than academic interest, albeit somewhat shocking in their implications, but he'd seen quite a number of nasty accidents during his tenure at the repair sheds. He'd witnessed accidents where men had had their limbs crushed or broken by falling metal plates, fingers that had been lost when hands had been put where they shouldn't have been, and even a couple of deaths caused by falling machinery, but the events in the photographs, though they appeared to have been carried out a long, long time ago, were merely confirmation that the magical trains had to have been created somehow. It wasn't Lawrence's fault that he couldn't empathise in the same way as Jeanie could, after all, he was a male, and he knew that males didn't react to emotional stress in the same way that women did, but if any blame were be laid for that apparent fault, it was probably something that he'd heard Sir Topham say on many previous occasions when something had happened that had given them pause for thought; _'That's the magic of the railways for you!'_

Sam, after knocking back a rather large measure of whisky, joked, _"Sir Topham, I may be asking you later if you can put me up for the night!"_

Since becoming manager of the dieselworks, he'd considered himself fortunate that his engines had never been involved in any major accidents, and he'd never had to seriously consider possible ramifications of them being destroyed in any way. They'd been created, and he repaired them when they broke down. That was how it had always been for him. Rather a simplistic view of it, he thought to himself, and now that he'd found out how the engines had originally been created, he had to think again about his engines. The fact that diesels were newer than the steamies and that they were still being made meant that what he'd seen in those photographs was still going on. Turning to where his colleague Lawrence was standing, he said, _"Larry, you've lost one or two before now; how come you've never said anything about dead bodies in the smokebox before now?"_

"_That's because I've never found any dead bodies inside my engines, Sam,"_ Lawrence sardonically replied. _"You seriously think I'd keep something like that to myself?"_

"_So what, then?"_ Sam asked him. _"They look they way they do for no reason?"_

"_Why do you look the way you do?"_ said Percival, having moped enough and deciding to join in the dialogue.

"_What do you mean?"_ asked Sam. _"You trying to be funny?"_

"_No,"_ replied Percival. _"You look the way you do because of your parents and the way that humans grow older. I suppose the engines look the way they do now is because of the nature of the sentience they had...have. They all had different personalities, after all, so why shouldn't they all look different to each other?"_

"_I don't know,"_ mumbled Lawrence. _"This is...all so sudden. I don't know what to make of it."_

Jeanie, after raising her head up and wiping her tear-streaked face, mumbled a weak "_Thank you"_ to Sir Topham. She'd seen some gory horror films on her television and in the cinema before now, and she'd giggled and laughed at some of the amateurish special effects that the film-makers had used to portray their so-called terror scenes, but never before now had she seen anything, even in real-life, that could match the terror that had filled her heart as she dwelt on the events that had been recorded forever in those photographs and what she had seen on the old film reels earlier that afternoon. After realising that it was the fair-haired naked woman that would be known eventually as Lady that featured in the starring role, the fact that a real person had been burnt alive and stuffed inside a steam engine in order to create a 'magical' train, the story-plot was so...so extreme and unbelievable that it had been too much for her and she had no option but to give in to her rising horror and grief.

Then, as she sat in Sir Topham's comfy chair and stared into space, wondering why she was persisting with her involvement in this crazy world of magical railways and telepathic communication with a talking engine, just how much she could take before she snapped or went insane, Jeanie suddenly felt as though she was falling inside herself, falling like Alice into a seemingly endless rabbit hole before finally tumbling out onto on a world where all one's purpose in life was to serve a higher authority's need, and she felt helpless as her mind struggled to maintain a grip on the reality she knew to be her true one, but it was a hopeless battle as she found herself again falling into endlessness...falling and falling until...until she looked up into her employer's face, and said, _"Sir Topham, Sir,...we HAVE to save Lady!"_

Sir Topham opened his eyes and stared at Jeanie. Looking at the determination in her eyes that had replaced heart-breaking sorrow, he knew what had just happened to her, and he felt so saddened by the fact that the railway magic had finally taken complete control of this young woman, this free spirit that had danced with naive joy on the platforms of Knapford Station as she twirled around in a curiosity-ridden and eager pirouette with the other innocent spirits that had also found themselves new roles to perform in this grand tragedy. _"I know,"_ he quietly replied, _"and we will. Would you like to freshen yourself up before we look at the translation?"_

"_Y-yes, please, Sir Topham,"_ Jeanie whispered, realising that something of great significance had just occurred but not quite sure as to what it was. _"I think I'll b-be all right once I've washed my f-f-face."_

"_Come with me,"_ said Sir Topham. _"I'll point you the way to the bathroom." _

Peregrine watched his employer lead Jeanie into the hallway, and knowing that something had happened, waited for him to re-enter the study. Less than a minute later, Sir Topham came back in.

"_Excuse me, Sir Topham, but what was that just now?"_

"_What THAT was, Peregrine," _replied Sir Topham, "_was the railway magic finding itself another willing acolyte."_

"_An eager one, at that!"_ agreed Lawrence, grimacing.

"_Yes,"_ agreed Sir Topham, _"and the poor girl's been introduced to it at a level that may be too high for her to cope with."_

"_I feel ten years older all of a sudden,"_ said Peregrine, frowning.

"_Believe me, my friend, I know exactly how you feel. Nevertheless, what's done is done and all we can do from here on is to move forward. Damn it! I feel like another brandy, and I already know I'm going be up all night!"_

"_I think I'll join you with that brandy, Sir Topham,"_ said Lawrence, despite the long drive home he'd have to face later that night.

ooo

Meanwhile, in the engine sheds behind Tidmouth Station, a group of former engines plus one of the former trucks were huddled up in a cluster of sleeping bags in one of the far corners. The white glow from a nearby white warning lamp that at least one of them had no doubt used at some point in their previous train form gave them enough light to see each other as they chatted to each other. Thomas and James had just been telling Percy, Henry and the young former truck about their exciting tasks, but neither of them had been able to put much enthusiasm into their tales as they were worrying about what Henry had told them about Gordon and the sad fate that Neville and Molly had suffered.

"_I hope he'll be all right,"_ said Thomas. _"He'll be there all alone in Crovan's Gate."_

"_I know he usually acts big and strong,"_ said James, _"but supposing he's not strong enough to get better? He might die as well, and...and what if we become ill like him? We might die as well!"_

"_I d-d-don't want to die!"_ a sad, little voice cried out from inside the sleeping bag between Henry and Thomas.

"_You won't die, little one,"_ said Henry, gently patting the huddled form_._ _ "We've been feeling fine all day, and it was only when Gordon touched Molly that he fell ill." Though those bruise from that fight earlier on are aching a fair bit, _ he thought to himself.

"_H-how do you know that?"_ demanded Percy. _"H-how do you know that something won't c-c-come and t-t-ouch us when we're s-s-sleeping tonight?"_

"_He's right,"_ said James. _"What are we going to do? We can't stay awake all night!"_

A couple of muffled sobs from the sleeping bag caused them all to look at the shaking lump next to Henry.

"_See what you've done now, Percy?"_ he complained. _"You've set him off again! Why do you have to be such a worry-wheels?"_

"_What if we take turns to sleep?"_ Thomas suggested. _"If one of us keeps guard for a while, the rest of us can sleep without having to worry!"_

"_That's a good idea, Thomas,"_ said Henry. _"I'll stay awake first and wake you up in two hours time. You stay guard for two hours and then wake James, and he can then wake Percy up after his two hours. Percy can then wake me up when the sun rises. I want to make sure that this one here gets to sleep tonight,"_ he continued, pointing down at the sleeping bag next to him. _"So I suggest you three settle down to sleep as well. Goodnight all of you!"_

"_Goodnight Henry,"_ chorused James and Thomas, followed quickly by Percy's worried, _"G-g-goodnight all of you. I hope I'm still alive for James to w-w-wake me up!"_

"_Make sure you keep the light on, Henry!"_ ordered James.

"_I will,"_ replied Henry. _"Now, shut up, the lot of you and go to sleep!"_

Once the rustling of sleeping bags finished as the three friends settled down somewhat apprehensively to catch what sleep they could, Henry lay back with his hands behind his head, thinking about Gordon. He just didn't know what he'd do if his old friend died. He hadn't known Neville and Molly as long or as well as he had known the big, blue engine, and it was as he started brooding over what the two poor engines must have been going through before they died that he heard the young boy speak again.

"_H-h-henry, Sir?"_ the muffled voice softly called.

"_What is it, little one?"_ sighed Henry.

"_W-w-why do you all c-c-call me 'little one'?"_

"_Well,"_ said Henry, _"mainly, it's because that's what you are when compared to us big, er, engines, and anyway, you haven't told any of us your name yet!"_

"_I don't know m-m-my name, Sir."_

"_You must know your own name, surely?"_ Henry asked him, looking across to the boy at his side. _"Didn't you tell Sir Topham what your name was when you spoke to him this afternoon?"_

Henry had been sent to wait in the traffic office while Sir Topham dealt with the former truck, and had thought that all was well when the boy had come back out and told him that Sir Topham has said it was all to do with the strange event that had changed them all the previous night.

"_I think I had one before, Sir,"_ the boy then said, _"b-b-before everything went all black."_

"_What do you mean 'Before everything went all black'?"_

"_B-b-before, Sir, w-w-when I had arms and legs, Sir. I had arms and legs before everything went all black."_

"_But you told me in the woods that you always see black when you sleep. You must have got confused when you woke up this morning with arms and legs!"_

"_That's what Sir Topham said to me, but he's wrong, Sir!"_

"_What do you mean, 'He's wrong'? Sir Topham's _never_ wrong!"_ snorted Henry.

"_He-he is wrong this time, Sir! I remember when I did have arms and legs!"_

"_Impossible! You were a truck! You've NEVER had arms and legs!"_

"_I did, Sir! I really did!"_

The boy's insistence was beginning to worry Henry.

"_Okay, okay,"_ he said. _"If you think you used to have arms and legs, then why aren't the all other former trucks saying the same thing as you?"_

"_I don't know, Sir,"_ the boy replied. _"I've never been like them. They're always sniggering and playing tricks on you big engines. I don't want to do things like that. I just want to go back to m-m-my mammy!"_

The boy then started crying and Henry was at a loss for what to do. He didn't have any idea how to deal with anything like this. He knew that all it needed to sort out a troublesome truck was to give it a good bash and a bump along the track to get it to behave, but what could he do here with the young boy? He couldn't bump or bash him, it just didn't seem right! The boy had said that he wanted to go back to his mammy. How in the name of everything that rolled along on iron wheels could a railway wagon have a mother? It was unheard of!

Then, James, or was it Percy, stirred in his sleep and Henry, not wanting things to get any more complicated than they already were should one of his friends wake up and start asking what was going on, thought that he'd better try and calm down the sobbing youngster. He turned over onto his side and reached an arm across the shaking form of the crying boy, and said, _"Shhhh! There, there! It'll be all right!"_

The boy continued to cry but his sobbing quietened slightly and then Henry heard, amidst the boy's sniffling, _"M-my m-m-mammy won't be able to f-f-find me! Sh-she won't know wh-who to look for!"_

"_What do you mean she won't know who to look for?"_ asked Henry.

"_I ha-haven't got m-my name any more, b-b-but I do have a n-n-number, Sir!" _

Although Henry knew that all the trucks and wagons bore a plate on which their serial number could be read by the various railway officials that came round the marshalling yards to check on where they all were, he didn't know much more than that, but what he did know was how he could help the little boy.

"_If you want,"_ he said, gently, _"I'll give you a name."_

"_W-w-what name will you g-give me, Sir?"_ the boy sniffled.

"_How about...Tim? Will that be all right for you?"_

"_Oh, yes, please, Sir! Th-th-thank you, Sir! Now my mammy will know who to look for!"_

"_There we are! When I wake Thomas I'll tell him what your name is and then he can tell James, and James can tell Percy and then we'll all know your name. We'll even tell Sir Topham what your name is. How about that?"_

"_That's great, Sir! Thank you, Sir!"_

"_And you can stop calling me 'Sir'! Sir Topham and the real people are 'Sirs', not us. We're...we're trains! We're engines and coaches and trucks., and we all call each other by our names, remember that."_

"_I will, S-, Henry. Thank you."_

"_Now...Tim, tell me more about your arms and legs..."_

Maybe, thought Henry, it would be easier for the boy if they all pretended that they believed him. At least he'd stopped crying and wouldn't wake the others up.

ooo

An ashen-faced Jeanie re-entered the study and sat down in the empty chair between Percival and Lawrence where they and Sam were sitting in a semi-circle in front of Sir Topham's desk. She looked up to Sir Topham as if to say that she was ready to carry on, and the man acknowledged her tacit request by picking up the translation his father had been working on.

She noticed that the old photographs that had evoked the gloomy atmosphere currently filling the study were stacked in a tidy pile in one corner of his desk and, glancing sheepishly at the men sitting next to her, she listened as Sir Topham read out the translation.

"_Great Darkness strikes down the Pure One. She is stricken by the Destroyer. The Pure One shall not this time take of the Birth Water, She to drink of the Mother herself. Eternal is the Well of the Mother, Eternal is the Product of Her Well. The Winged Beast, born the way of the bird but not of the bird. He that possess the Coat of Blood, Pure is his Song. He to eat/overcome(?) – unknown glyph, T.H. – and The Burning Rock. Sacred is He that devours. She shall breathe the Spirit of Life anew." _

He then spoke for several minutes about what he'd learnt from Winston Hornby-Rees of the customs and beliefs of the ancient Britons, including a brief description of the rituals once carried out at Silbury Hill and Avebury with regards to fertility and re-birth of the life spirit. When he'd mentioned _'Mother and the product of her well near a sacred hill'_ to the historian, the only thing Hornby-Rees could think of as having any relevance to it was Glastonbury Tor in Somerset, and he then went on to explain about the healing water from a nearby spring. Sir Topham had been delighted to hear of that, especially when the historian had then spoken for some length of ley-lines running across the country that the ancients believed carried the Earth Mother's spiritual energy.

"_So,"_ he said to the three men and one young woman sitting across from him, _"all we have to do now is to correlate what we've learnt of healing waters and ley-lines to this translation to come up with a way of saving Lady and helping her to get her magic back. I'm pretty certain that this is the key to solving our problem. Let's have a look at it bit by bit. Now, the first part, 'For the Great Darkness shall strike down the Pure One', well, I certainly think it sounds like our problem, wouldn't you all agree? A great 'blackness' is how Burnett Stone described what happened to Lady over in Shining Time, yes?"_

"_Yes, I agree,"_ said Percival.

"_Definitely," _ said Lawrence.

"_Yeah,"_ said Sam, _"but what was that bit again about being stricken by some sort of destroyer?"_

"_You mean 'She is stricken by the Destroyer'?"_ Sir Topham asked him.

"_Yeah. Do you know what this 'Destroyer' is, or was?"_

"_No. Unfortunately, I don't,"_ replied Sir Topham. _"Though, I believe the next few bits have to be read together to make any sense. 'The Pure One shall not this time swallow the Birth Water of the Mother; She to drink of the Mother herself. Eternal is the Well of the Mother. Eternal is the Product of Her Well.'"_

"_May I?"_ Lawrence asked Sir Topham, holding his hand out for the translation.

"_Certainly,"_ said Sir Topham, handing him the piece of paper he was holding.

Lawrence silently read through translation until quoting, _"'The Pure One shall not this time swallow the Birth Water of the Mother'_. _To me, that sounds rather disgusting. Is it a literal or metaphorical thing, I wonder. 'She to drink of the Mother herself' sounds as though this 'Mother' is to provide nourishment or something."_

"_It sounds to me,"_ said Sam, catching Sir Topham's attention, _"that if it's referring to a 'Mother', and what that historian fellow said to yar about a 'Mother Earth' and healing waters is right, then the someone in this case has to be Lady having to drink this healing water, yeah?"_

"_And the only way she could drink it is if it's poured into her boiler,"_ exclaimed Sir Topham. _"By Jove, Sam, you're right! That bit Lawrence just said about birth water, it could be that when Lady was first created, it wasn't healing water they used in those cups or in her boiler but something else instead!" _

Percival got up and walked over to stand beside Sir Topham, peering over his shoulder to read through his notes of the telephone call with Hornby-Rees.

"_Excuse me, Sir,"_ he said,_ "but this bit in your notes about Silbury Hill and fertility, you've written, 'Flood waters believed to represent Anim-, amin-, I'm sorry, Sir Topham, but your writing is a bit scrawled here..."_

"_Amniotic fluids, I believe it says,"_ said Sir Topham, correcting him. _"I was rather rushed at the time, yes. I was trying to write down what I considered to be important before he went on about something else completely different. He was rather talkative, that fellow."_

"_Amniotic fluid is what surrounds a baby inside its mother's womb,"_ said Jeanie. She'd remained silent whilst the men had been talking about healing waters, but, being a female, she considered any talk of amniotic fluids as being with her domain. _"Maybe those ley-lines or whatever they are do something to the flood waters?"_ she suggested, looking at Sir Topham, but he appeared to be staring into space. _"Sir Topham?"_ she politely called out.

"_Yes, sorry, Jeanie,"_ he apologised, shaking his head to gather his wits. _"I was just thinking of when I was a child. I seem to recall my mother telling me that she'd received another letter from Bristol. 'It's from your father', she said, and I know that Bristol's not that far away from Glastonbury, I do believe, which is where Hornby-Rees said that the well where the healing water comes from is located. I don't know if my father ever went there, but it is rather a striking coincidence, isn't it?"_ Sir Topham gently pulled at his lower lip with his fingers while he considered what he'd just said.

Sir Topham otherwise occupied whilst Percival read through the rest of Sir Topham's telephone notes, Lawrence read out the next part of the translation, _"'Eternal is the Well of the Mother. Eternal is the Product of Her Well'."_

"'_Well at Glastonbury. Existed for hundreds, if not thousands of years'," _quoted Percival.

"_Say that again, Larry,"_ said Sam.

"'_Eternal is the Well of the Mother. Eternal is the Product of Her Well'."_

"_And you, Percival,_ _what you just said about how long Glastonbury Well existed for..."_

"_It's existed for hundreds if not thousands of years."_

"_There we are then, folks, 'The Eternal Well of Glastonbury.' That's where we get the healing water for Lady's boiler!"_ exclaimed Sam, grinning like a Cheshire Cat.

"_What about Silbury Hill and Avebury?"_ asked Percival. _"There may be a well or something there as well."_

"_They were more about fertility and birth, according to Hornby-Rees,"_ said Sir Topham. _"I'm more inclined to go with what Sam just said about Glastonbury, after all, it's healing Lady we're hoping to do. She's already been 'born' once."_

"_I'll go along with that," _ said Lawrence. _"What about you, Jeanie? You've been rather quiet there. Everything all right?"_

"_Yeah, I'm fine now. I was just thinking about that eternal bit,"_ she explained to the works manager.

"_Glastonbury Well,"_ Percival said to her. _"Lawrence said 'Eternal is the Well of the Mother', and Sir Topham's written by here that it's said to have existed for hundreds if not thousands of years. Surely that is connected to what he said about the well being eternal, especially if we look at it with hindsight?"_

"_It does sounds right,"_ agreed Jeanie. _"'Eternal is the Well' as in the well has been there for ages, and 'Eternal is the Product of Her Well' as in if it's still flowing these days."_

"_It's a well-known tourist spot,"_ said Sir Topham, _"so all we have to do is to phone them tomorrow morning to find out if we can buy enough to fill Lady's boiler, yes?"_

"_Yes, and can you imagine their faces when we ask them if they can supply us with two-hundred gallons of it,"_ chuckled Lawrence.

"_Yes,"_ laughed Sam. _"That'd be a bit of a bonus for them, wouldn't it?"_

"_Do they deliver?"_ Jeanie asked Sir Topham. _"I mean, you don't have any freight wagons any more, do you?"_

"_And then we've got to think of how we'll get it to Lady"_ said Lawrence.

"_Hold your horses, you lot,"_ said Sir Topham. _"Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves. We've still the rest of this translation to work out yet. Let's break for a few minutes. I've got the start of a headache coming on, and I don't know about all you, but I want to keep my head straight while we do this. I'll ring Collins for some tea and painkillers."_

"_If I may, Sir Topham," _ Lawrence asked, _"I'll like to step outside for a cigarette?"_

"_By all means,"_ acknowledged Sir Topham_. "You others do as you wish."_

"_Er, I don't smoke,"_ she said_, "but some fresh air would be nice."_

"_I'll join you,"_ said Sam, getting up from his chair and walking towards the doors that led outside.

Percival, however, feeling rather depressed after his earlier recollection of Harry Trubshaw returned to his seat to mull over the possible consequences should they fail to save Lady and what would happen to them all if the magic of the railways failed completely.

ooo

Mavis and Emily had never been so busy. Since arriving in the big bus-coach that had collected them and some of the former coaches and former trucks earlier that evening, they'd been rushed off their whee-, feet going from one group of troubled women and youngsters to another, and that was without the other former engines that were fussing about the dormitory rooms at the youth hostel they were staying in. Annie and Clarabel had been fretting all night about Thomas and it was only Toby and Henrietta that had managed to calm them down enough to sit and watch the television that one of the drivers from Knapford Station had switched on for them.

One of the drivers staying the night with them, Jeremy, had shown them all how to operate the remote control to change the channels and adjust the volume before going into the kitchen area to make some hot drinks for them all, and now they were all watching a programme about the merits of different makes of cars, laughing at some of the things that the tall presenter was saying to his two shorter companions. It had taken Emily in full rant to get the noisy youngsters to behave themselves and stay in their beds instead of bothering the older former trains.

"_Thank you, Jeremy,"_ Mavis said as she carefully lifted a mug of steaming hot cocoa from the tray he was holding in front of her.

Jeremy usually worked the night shift taking the mail from Sodor to the mainland, but now that there weren't any trains operating, this was the only way the drivers could earn any wages. Still, he was happy enough to sit down all night watching the telly instead of standing on a footplate in the dark, as long as those damned troublesome tru-, kids, didn't cause any more mischief!

"_It's nicer than the tea you had earlier in the café at Knapford,"_ he said, smiling at the former eng-, er, woman in her long, black leather-coat, _"though I'd suggest you wait for it to cool down a bit before you drink any in case you burn your tongue."_

"_All this is still taking a while to get used to,"_ said Toby, taking hold of his own mug and smiling up at Jeremy.

"_Yes, it is,"_ agreed Henrietta. _"I've never felt so old as I have tonight, rushing around about after those pesky youngsters!"_

"_Och! Ya shouldha seen thair wee bonny faces when thay wa on tha big bus-coach. Thay waur a-looking oot tha windows at all tha sights wi nane a glower on them!"_

"_It's very strange, Emily,"_ said Mavis, taking a careful sip from her mug and being very pleasantly surprised at how nice it tasted, _"how Daisy didn't want to come here with us tonight."_

"_Ah, tha wee puir sowel!"_ she replied. _"It be really awfu tha thing tha laddie did tae her, it wa! A no be a bit surprise she wan tae be wit her fellow diesel frens!"_

"_I'm not surprised that Thomas and the others wanted to stay in Tidmouth as well,"_ said Toby. _"They no doubt want to be on hand to hear as soon as they can tomorrow morning on how Gordon is."_

"_Aye,"_ said Emily. _"It be a man's railway all right! Wha say yer, eh, Mavis?"_

"_Funny you should say that,"_ Mavis replied, _"but Daisy said very much the same thing to me in the café this afternoon. She said that in her early days on the line, all the male diesels would honk their horns whenever she went past them. She said that when she asked them why they always did that, they said that they did it because they couldn't whistle! I still don't know what they meant by that!"_

A sudden snort next to her and a spray of hot liquid through the air startled them all as Toby choked on the mouthful of cocoa he'd just taken from his mug. Henrietta patted him forcibly on his back as he hunched over, coughing loudly.

Suddenly remembering what she'd heard from Sir Topham earlier that day about Molly and Neville dying and fearing the worst, Mavis asked, _"What's the matter, Toby?_ _Are you ill like Gordon?"_

"_No! No!"_ Toby's strained voice managed to gasp. _"I'm...I'm fine! Just...give me a minute...to get my breathe back...will you?"_

The women all looked on anxiously as Toby's face got redder and redder before he was finally able to breath a bit easier. Mavis turned to Jeremy and asked him if he could help Toby, and was rather puzzled to see a smirk on the driver's face.

Seeing the way she was looking at him, Jeremy decided he'd better explain what happened. _ "I think a bit of his cocoa went down the wrong way,"_ he chuckled._ "It happens to all of us sometime or other. There's nothing for you to worry about."_

"_Oo-er!"_ she replied, but despite what Jeremy had just told her, she did feel a little bit worried. _"I suppose it's one of those things he was taking a while to get used to!"_ she said.

ooo

"_I think we're making some headway with that translation,"_ Lawrence said to Sam after he'd pulled the doors almost-shut to stop any cold air from getting into the study.

"_Yeah,"_ he agreed. _"Though the rest of it is a bit weird."_

"_You mean the first part hasn't been?"_ grinned Lawrence, lighting his cigarette. _"We seem to have solved that bit, haven't we?"_

"_Yeah, maybe. Like Percival said, looking at it in hindsight, the well being eternal and all that. It seems to fit. That bit about winged beasts, coats of blood and stuff make it sound as gory as those bloody photos we looked at!"_

"_Yeah,"_ chuckled Lawrence, taking a final drag on his cigarette. _"It all sounds like some sort of mystical legend to me, though. We've just got to reason it out into something we can understand."_

"_As long as that coat of blood isn't red like a tomato,"_ said Sam, opening one of the doors to go back into the study, leaving Lawrence to splutter as he tried to exhale cigarette smoke and laugh at the same time.

ooo

Diesel Ten, in the bright light of an electric arc-lamp, glared at his merry band of cohorts. Diesel, Splatter and Dodge were sniggering together over various troubles and embarrassing moments that Thomas and his cronies had gotten themselves into over the years, whilst BoCo and Daisy were recalling the many slurs they'd had thrown at them by those very same steamies, and it heartened him greatly!

One team, he thought to himself. One team of dies-, former diesels with the only one thing on their mind being the desire to show Sir Topham that they didn't need to be steamies for Sodor's railways to run efficiently and without the petty jealousies and quarrels that the puffers always seemed to be having amongst themselves.

All of the steamies' work could be done just as well by the diesels, he thought to himself. From the shunting done by those puffballs, Thomas and Percy, all the way to the express being pulled by that big and boastful Gordon, but thinking about the blue Class A0 Pacific and how he was currently indisposed at Crovan's Gate repair works reminded him of the two steamies that had died earlier that day, and Diesel Ten didn't like the way he was feeling about that. Did he really want the big blue engine to die as well? It was already bad that two- _Damn it! Why do _I _care if any of them died? The less there are of them, the better it'll be for us diesels!_

But the more that he thought about it, the more he realised he was finding it difficult to put much force into those thoughts. One thing he was certain of was that he couldn't wait to see the back-ends of the steamies, but he wasn't sure he'd be equally as happy if it meant that any more of them had to die in order for it to happen. Thinking a bit more on it, he was pretty sure he wouldn't rather see them simply shunted over to the mainland to work there instead if it meant they didn't have to die, and the two that did die, well, he didn't really know much about them after all. He'd always referred to Neville as 'The Wannabe Diesel' because of the shape of his black boiler, and Molly, well, he'd always thought of her as a 'Steaming Banana' because of her bright yellow paintwork. As for Gordon, though, well, he couldn't think of much to say that was bad about him, other than he was always boasting about how big and strong he was, which was pretty much the truth of the situation, if he was being totally honest with himself. Gordon actually was what he'd always claimed to be, and that was big _and _ strong!

"_I hope he's feeling better in the morning,"_ he muttered to himself.

"_What was that you said, Boss?"_ asked Dodge, cutting short his own diatribe against the bloated red blister that called himself James.

Shocked that he hadn't realised he'd spoken his thoughts out loud, Diesel Ten retorted, _"I said 'I hope Sir Topham will listen to us in the morning'. Now, SHUT UP THE LOT OF YOU AND GET TO SLEEP! I'm feeling tired!"_

ooo

"_The Winged Beast, born the way of the bird but not of the bird, He that possess the Coat of Blood; Pure is his Song. He to eat/overcome(?) – unknown glyph, T.H. - the Burning Rock. Sacred is He that devours, for She shall breathe the Spirit of Life."_

"'_The 'Winged Beast, born the way of the bird but not of the bird'," _ repeated Sir Topham.

"_Eggs,"_ said Jeanie. _"Birds hatch out of eggs, but it's not a bird, so what else hatches out of an egg?"_

"_Snakes,"_ said Lawrence. _"Lizards, turtles, tortoises. I can't think of anything else. What about you, Sir Topham?"_

"_Spiders lay eggs,"_ replied Sir Topham. _"Though I certainly don't want to think of this 'Winged Beast' as being some sort of flying spider! Urgh!"_

"_I think it refers to hard-shelled eggs, like birds' eggs rather than any other sort of egg,"_ said Percival.

"_So, no fearsome giant chickens, then,"_ said Sam,

"_I think,"_ said Percival, _"that 'Beast' more than likely means an animal rather than an insect or some type of bird."_

"_Flying snakes?"_ suggested Lawrence.

"_Flying lizards?" _said Jeanie._ "No, that's a pop group, I think. Flying turtles...flying tortoises-" _ but despite the seriousness of their discussion, couldn't help letting out a snort of laughter as she pictured a garden tortoise slowly opening its shell to reveal a pair of glistening, blood-dripping wings as it flew up into the air and over somebody's carefully manicured privet hedge.

"_What about ladybirds?"_ asked Sam. _"Yeah, they don't come from hard eggs but, surely, with a name like that...Lady-bird, yeah?"_

"_I think, with respect, Sam,"_ Lawrence dryly replied, _"that's rather clutching at straws, don't you think?"_

"_But,"_ Percival then said, not without a hint of excitement in his voice, _"You're not far wrong!"_ Looking to Sir Topham, he then said, _"Sir Topham, didn't the Egyptians have a sacred beetle or something?"_

"_The Scarab beetle,"_ said Sir Topham, excitedly leaning forward over his desk. He, too, saw something in the idea.

"_I don't know much about history,"_ he added,_ "but Jane does like to watch television, and some of the programmes she likes to watch do make one listen now and then, especially some of the documentaries. Excuse me a minute."_ Sir Topham then got up and walked over to a large bookshelf next to the terrace doors.

After a few moments of skimming through the books titles, he found what he was looking for and pulled out a thick book that the others saw when he returned to his desk and opened it, turned out to be an encyclopaedia. He turned to the back of the book and ran his finger down the index, let out an excited _"Aha!"_ and flicked through the book for the relevant page.

He read quietly for a minute or so and then turned the book around so that his companions could see what he'd been so interested in, and there, in full glorious colour on the bottom half of the right-hand page, was a picture of a scarab beetle, it's black shell showing a greenish hue to it in the bright Egyptian sunlight.

Reading the notes that accompanied the picture, they were all pleasantly surprised to find out that, to the ancient Egyptians, this particular beetle symbolised hope and the restoration of life, and was regarded as sacred.

Sir Topham re-read the translation and repeated the next few lines: _"'The Winged Beast, born the way of the bird but not of the bird, He that possess the Coat of Blood; Pure is his Song.' If this beetle is the 'Winged Beast' we're looking for, and if we can find out where we can find a red one, one that makes some sort of sound, which is what I think the bit about 'Pure is his Song' refers to, then we're even closer to solving this. All we'll have left to do is to work out what we're supposed to do with a red beetle that makes a noise of some sort."_

"_And then there's this bit here, Sir Topham,"_ said Lawrence._ "'He to eat/overcome(?) – unknown glyph, T.H. - the Burning Rock'. What do you make of that?" _

"_Maybe it's a mis-translation,"_ suggested Jeanie.

"_No,"_ said Sir Topham. _"You see the comment that not all the glyphs were understood? Well, those initials are my grandfather's. My father was Charles Topham Hatt, but my grandfather was just Topham Hatt. 'He to eat/overcome(?) – unknown glyph', other than the obvious, I can't see any other meaning to it. 'He', assuming it's this Scarab beetle, has to eat or overcome whatever it is that's affected Lady and the Sodor trains. Where he's written 'unknown glyph', what he's referring to there is a symbol that looks just like a collection of small matches stuck to one another."_

Lawrence nodded his head thoughtfully, then frowned as he looked again at the translation in front of Sir Topham. _"It eats or somethings the rock that burns. Rock that burns...well, that's got to be coal, surely?_

"_That's the only sort of 'Burning Rock' that I know of,"_ replied Sir Topham.

Jeanie, staring idly at a knot in the wood on top of Sir Topham's desk, said, _"There was what could have been coal near the feet of the woman in those photographs."_ Then, looking at Sir Topham, she asked, _"Did they have coal back in Egyptian times?"_

"_I don't know,"_ said Percival. _ "Someone obviously discovered it somewhere, maybe _the_ Egyptians did at some point, I don't really know, but then again, the steam engines burn coal, and if this is about saving Lady, so it's pretty obvious that it's coal we need."_

"_Yes,..."_ agreed Sir Topham, _"and finally, we have 'Sacred is He that devours, for She shall breathe the Spirit of Life.' The Spirit of Life has to be Lady's connection to the railway magic, the thing that enables the trains to be sentient and alive."_

"_And the 'He that devours',"_ added Lawrence, _"must be the red version of that scarab beetle."_

"_So, if we've got this right,"_ said Percival, _"we have to get healing water from Glastonbury that'll go into Lady's boiler and some coal for her firebox. We work out how to get a blood-red scarab beetle to eat or devour whatever it is that affected Lady and then she'll have her magic back?"_

Sir Topham, sitting back in his chair as a look of satisfaction appeared on his face, said, _ "I think that that just about sums it up!"_

ooo

Gordon, sleeping comfortably in the first-aid room at the repair sheds in Crovan's Gate, was dreaming that he was just like Sir Topham's butler, except that he served for a Lord that lived in a castle in Scotland instead of a Hall on an island. What was especially good about the dream was that he, Gordon, was also much more than just a mere butler, for _he_ was the House Steward, the man responsible for all the household purchasing that had to be done, all the hiring and firing of the Household Staff when it was necessary, and even paying the servants their wages! What's more, he wasn't even classed as a servant! No, _he_ was regarded by others as being a professional man, just like the lawyer that his Lordship sometimes called upon when he needed to once again issue a writ against _The Times_ for some libellous article they'd printed. _Ah! It's good to be back,_ his dream-self thought to itself as he prepared to reprimand the footman for one of his frequent dishonourable comments about her Ladyship's behaviour.

ooo

There was no way that Salty was going on one of them fancy big bus-thingies, no way at all! No, he'd managed to persuade one of the dockers to let him stay in his home for the night, and besides, the sea air would soon help him to get to sleep! Now, though, that very same sea air was rekindling long-forgotten memories, memories buried much deeper than the very seas he'd often sailed upon, memories that had been scoured away by the event that had transformed his very being many years ago, an event that he had no conscious recollection of. Those memories were of happy days long gone by. Days, no, weeks, really, when he would be gone for a month or more out on the trawler, hauling fishing nets from the cold grip of the North Sea with his shipmates, and warming themselves up afterwards as they sat in the warm engine room of the trawler, each of them holding a piping hot cup of beef stock in their hands and regaling each other with a fishy tale or two!

Sometimes, he wished he didn't have to return back to the harbour, preferring instead to stay out at sea where all around him all he could hear was the sound of the sea splashing against the hull of the boat he was standing on, where the cold north-westerly winds were forever trying to blow him overboard, and hearing the cries of the seagulls that had ventured far offshore to hopefully try and steal a fish or two from out the nets, the cheeky beggars!

ooo

The twins Annie and Clarabel had always been indistinguishable, for they were identical. Indeed, it was only their names elegantly painted on their sides when they had been coaches that had told them apart, and now that they were people, the only way to tell them apart were the elegantly inscribed nameplates on their necklaces. The dreams the two dear ladies were having that night were so similar it was only from the perspective of the respective dream-viewer that they seemed in any different, for in their respective dreams, each of the ladies was seeing her other-half accompanying her as they sat down in their summer cottage in Eastbourne to talk to two very nice Gentlemen. They had come with some documents that would transfer their life savings over to a business venture that promised to pay a very handsome return on their investment. Once the papers were signed, though, neither of the twin-sisters saw one of the very nice Gentlemen slip some very powerful sleeping potion into their afternoon tea whilst his partner hid that nefarious act behind a large sheet of complicated accounts that, despite their complexity, most assuredly promised great dividends. Is this a dream we're having, one asked the other, in that quasi-telepathic way that identical twins do, or is it a memory? Neither one could answer correctly, after all, those accounts had really confused the two ladies. It was such a shame, they both sighed as their world faded away, for the venture had sounded _so_ promising when those nice Gentlemen had first proposed it!

ooo

James was having what he thought was a nightmare. The hospital he was working in was like nothing he'd ever seen before, and his job, every day and all-day long was to clean all the blood off the floor of the operating theatres. The hospital had been opened by Her Majesty, Queen Victorian herself, God Bless Her Soul, only three weeks ago, and he'd been very lucky to get a job there. Well, it was either work there amongst all the sick people or end up in the slaughterhouse down the road. _Ah well,_ he thought to himself whilst again wringing out his dirty, blood-soaked rag, _beggars can't be choosers._ The reason he thought that way was because the only real alternative to finding work somewhere was to stay in the workhouse instead of begging the odd farthing off the noble gentry, and he knew that with his poor health, he wouldn't last long living rough before he'd croak and end up being carried off in a cart to be buried in Potter's Field or cut up by the doctors in the very same hospital he was in right now as they rootled 'round inside his dead body to practise their body-cutting skills. No, he knew it would be better for him to work here, earning the few pennies he did by mopping up the blood that spilled from the amputee operations. Yes, it was much better than starving on a pittance in the workhouse, _and_ the hospital bosses let him wash all the blood off his smock before he went home to his lodgings for the night. Going to sleep at night covered in bright red blood wouldn't do at all!

ooo

Thomas was happy. The new engine had arrived that morning, and now, after the engineers had given it a clean bill of health, _he_, Thomas, was being allowed to drive it! The engine was one of the Stroudley class E 0-6-0 locomotives. There was talk going round that they were to be scrapped and replaced by the new Billinton E2 class which, according to the gossip going round the marshalling yards, had extended side-tanks so that they could carry more water. That meant that they could work for longer before having to stop and be topped-up again, which Thomas hated having to do as he preferred to be on the go all the time!

It was great working on the railways, thought Thomas, as the engine puffed along with a rack of eight loaded coal trucks behind it, especially as it meant that he didn't have to go to France and fight in the war! That had been going on for two years now, despite what the newspapers had said about it all being over by Christmas, and it was nearly two years ago since they'd said that! _Damn, this is a fine engine,_ he thought to himself. _It's hardly showing any strain at all!_

"_Ooh,"_ he said out loud to himself, as was his well-known habit. _"There's a bridge ahead with some young lads on it. I'll give them a blast with the whistle as we go under. They'll like that! I hope they don't breathe in too much of the smoke, though. You don't know what that'll do to your chest!"_

As they neared the bridge, Thomas could see one of the boys pointing towards the approaching engine, so he pulled twice on the chord above his head and the whistle gave such an amusing toot-toot that he chuckled. Leaning out of the cab, he waved to the boys as the engine puffed under the bridge and back out the other side, then, looking back as the engine sped along, he saw the boys race over from the far side of the bridge so that they could again watch the engine as it disappeared down the track. Thomas pulled the whistle-cord again to give them another 'toot-toot' as though the engine was saying 'Good-bye' to the excited youngsters. _If the engine could speak to me,_ he thought to himself, _it would probably tell me how happy it felt. _

Thomas looked across the countryside as the engine puffed and chuffed along the embankment overlooking one of the main canals. Glanced down to the left, he saw one of the horse-drawn barges moored to a small wooden jetty on the horsepath that ran alongside the canal. The horse was currently munching on some grass at the bottom of the embankment whilst the bargee and one of his two sons were fishing in the canal, hoping to catch something for their tea. The other son, a bit younger than the boy fishing with his father, was sitting on top of the barge, watching his mother, the bargee's wife, pegging out some laundry onto a line that had been strung between two tall posts sticking up on either end of the barge. It was a lovely summer day and the sun was shining with just a hint of breeze to stop the heat down. Thomas thought to himself that it was an ideal day for her to dry some washing.

Smiling, he carried on watching the family as the engine puffed along the top of the embankment, thinking of how nice it would be to have his family around him as he worked, but his thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a sharp jolt as he felt the engine becoming derailed. It was tilting to one side as the drive wheels on the left-hand side bumped over the sleepers and Thomas knew that it was due to one of the tracks being pushed out from its holding spikes, but as he reached over to cut off the steam supply and turn the brake handle, the engine suddenly veered towards the edge of the slope, throwing Thomas against the back-right corner of the small cab, the eight fully-loaded coal trucks being pulled off the rails as the engine careered down the side of the long embankment, adding their extra weight to their momentum. The next thing that happened, as far as Thomas could reason, was that the front of the engine must have hit something, a rock, maybe, or even a tree stump, for it then started to tip over, still pulling the coal trucks with it. All Thomas could regretfully think of in the amount of time it took to blink an eye, which was too short a time for him to react anyway as the runaway engine had already reached its tipping point, was that if he'd bothered to mend that torn bit of sleeve on his boiler-suit, he wouldn't have got it snagged it just then on the regulator valve and he'd have been able to jump out of the cab before it went over too far, but by then, once he'd thought that, it was way too late. _I'm stuck-It's going over-I'm stuck half-way out of the cab-I won't have time to get back inside-I'm stuck-I can't get my arm free-I see blue sky, green grass-I'm going to be crush-_

"_Thomas! Wake up, will you? It's your turn to stay guard!"_

_Gosh,_ thought Henry, seeing the look of fear on his friend's face. _ He must have had a real nightmare to be that scared of something!_

ooo

Daisy was dreaming of the time she was once again showing her many admirers her stuff. In the glow of the lime-lights across the front of the stage, the men sitting in the front couple of rows were lapping up her song-and-dance routine like puppies being offered treats! _Shame it's another one of these seedy seaside theatres, _she thought to herself as she sang the bawdy lyrics that Fast Frankie, her manager-songwriter had written for her. It was the sort of theatre that only saw a full house during Pantomime time at Christmas or when one of the comedians from the radio went on tour. _Never mind,_ she thought to herself. Maybe Frankie could get her booked into a more higher-class establishment next season instead.

Acknowledging to herself that her idea to give a couple of high kicks with her long, stockinged legs as she sung the last line of her song should get a few extra crumpled-up pound notes thrown onto the stage for her to pick up on her way back to the wings, despite the obscene cat-calls and wolf-whistles they would bring. At least she'd then be able to afford some decent food to eat tonight, which would be a nice change, she thought to herself. Yes, she'll give a couple of high kicks with her high-pins, as that fucking dressing-room stalker and would-be suitor liked to call them.

She's started on the boards six years ago as a chorus girl before being approached by Fast Frankie, a rather sleazy-looking guy that acted as manager to some other girls that dreamt of stardom and fame as singers. He'd promised her that a couple of years touring the smaller and less well-known back street theatres would give her the experience she'd need if she ever wanted to perform before the packed seats of London's West End, and she'd believed him. She's believed him for the last six years, despite it seeming as though the day when one of the top-name agents would approach her never arrived. Instead of singing songs that called to the hearts of love-struck couples, all she did now was to ruin her delicate throat with a stream of crude sex-orientated songs more befitting a rugby team on their annual outing. What really got her down were the lecherous leeches that hung around the back of the theatre, barely able to wait for her to set foot outside before they suggest she go back to their place and give them a 'personal' rendition of_ Fanny-Annie's Flipping Fanny _or _The Seven Strippers of Skegness. _Sometimes, she really felt like giving up and going back to work as a food-packer in Grimsby.

As it happened, everything would have worked out just fine if she'd been able to afford a decent pair of high-heeled stilettos, but the swinging-sixties had only just been born, and it was rather ironic that it was a too-high swing of her shapely right leg that caused her to lose her balance. As Daisy tried to regain it, which was rather awkward to do when holding a microphone close to her mouth with one hand and its coiled-up lead with the other, and she found that regaining her balance to be an impossible task. As her right foot landed rather heavily onto the stage in front of her, the heel of her cheap stiletto snapped and she stumbled, falling forward over the front of the stage and into the orchestra pit, falling head over heels, well, one-and-a-half actually, and landed on her back across the top of a footrest that one of the orchestra players used when it was their turn to perform for the crowds. The noise made as she broke two vertebrae in her back when she landed on that footrest silenced the rowdy cat-calls and wolf-whistles that her audience had started to give her, and it hardly seems worth it to add that Daisy didn't get to eat at all that night.

Despite the pain she was suffering as they carted her through the corridors of the local hospital, she remembered one or two blurry moments when she wondered why all the doctors and nurses where wearing dark robes instead of blue or pink and white uniforms, but, it _must_ have been a hospital, she reckoned, because a very nice man had just told her that he was going to make her better than she ever was!

ooo

George the steam-roller, unlike the magical engines and their friends, hadn't been affected by whatever it was that had happened the previous night, and after completing the job that Diesel Ten had asked him to do, he dreamt that he was rolling over every railways track on Sodor and flattening them into the ground so that the trains couldn't run on them any more and that all the passengers had to get to their destinations by bus and factories and shops sent all their goods by lorry. _Keep using the roads!_ he heard himself shouting to people in his dream. _Keep using the roads!_

ooo

That night, for the first time since starting to work on the tracks, the former troublesome trucks actually dreamt, and every single one of the little tearaways had their very own particular dream, although it must be said that no two of those dreams were the same. One little tearaway dreamt of playing catch-a-ball with his friends in a field of freshly mown grass, one dreamt of sitting down at home to eat supper with his mummy and daddy, whilst another dreamt that a very nice man had come to the orphanage where he lived with lots of other kids and was told that he had a nice new home to go to where he'd be able to do things that he'd likely never imagined as being possible. Although their dreams were all different, they all bore one striking similarity, and that was when the little tykes woke up the following morning, they only remembered their dreams as being something that might have happened but were too blurred, as though they were too far away to have been seen clearly, so blurred and far away, in fact, that they hardly seemed to have occurred in the first place, except for one little boy, and he woke up screaming!

ooo

Jeanie was quite relieved to be woken up by the gentle chimes of her travel alarm clock. She'd had a very disturbed sleep, dreaming of fair-haired women and dark-robed men that carried her burning body along an endless railway track before disappearing into a long and dark tunnel. She'd also dreamt that she'd gone shopping in a supermarket that, as she turned down one aisle to look for a tin of spaghetti, suddenly transformed itself into a countryside scene and she couldn't remember where she'd put the spanner that one of her former teachers at the university had told he needed to mend his ways whilst he was swinging on the very familiar rotary washing-line that she knew she didn't have, but now that she was awake, she thought she'd better ready herself for what was likely to be a very long day as she got to grips with important Magical Railway Matters!

Shortly afterwards, as she sat downstairs eating her breakfast of marmalade on toast and a cup of very nice tea with a very subdued Lady Hatt, all of which was served silently by Collins, the butler, a very haggard-looking Sir Topham entered the dining room with some news that cheered her up and blew away any lingering befuddlement that her disturbing dream had left her with.

"_Jeanie,"_ he said to her, stifling a yawn that, as he walked into the dining room, made her think that he hadn't slept all night, _"Lawrence has just phoned me to say that, all being well, Edward will be arriving at Knapford Station some time before ten o'clock this morning! He also told me that you are really looking forward to meeting him, yes?"_

"_Yes, Sir Topham. I am!" _she enthusiastically replied. _"I wonder what he'll say to me?"_

ooOOoo


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Shortly after they set off to Knapford Station, Sir Topham looked across to his passenger and asked, _"Feeling nervous, Jeanie?"_

_"I am a bit,"_ she replied. "_I don't want to make a fool of myself in front of everyone."_

Sir Topham smiled before replying, _"You don't have anything to worry about, Jeanie. It's me that should be nervous about being seen as a foolish old man."_

_"How's that, Sir Topham?"_

_"Well, all you've heard about from me yesterday was 'talking trains this' and 'talking trains that'. Now when you have the opportunity to experience it yourself with Edward, I don't want anything to go wrong."_

_"Oh,"_ murmured Jeanie. _"What could go wrong, then?"_

_"Nothing should go wrong, I would hope. Introductions to the engines are a normal thing when new employees start on the railways here, after all, you spoke with Lady yesterday, _and_ you saw her."_

_"Yes, that's true, but I didn't see her face. It was just a bit of a shock at the time. What should I say to Edward when I see him?"_

_"Don't say anything at first, Jeanie. The way it works is that I have to formally introduce the engine to the new employee before the, er, magic connects between the employee and the engine. Once the introduction is over, you'll see the engine's face begin to form and then you are free to speak with him, in this case, Edward."_

_"I see. Um…Sir Topham?"_ said Jeanie nervously, _"yesterday, everything was so new and confusing to me, but now, after sleeping on it, I've, er, got a few questions I'd like to ask you, if that's all right?"_

_"Ask away, Jeanie,"_ said Sir Topham. _"I can understand how you feel."_

_"Thank you, Sir Topham. Er, first of all, you said yesterday that they were like children. What did you mean by that?"_

_"Well, Jeanie, from what I was told by my father many years ago, when the engines are infused with their, er, sentience, call it, that is pretty much how they are. They have what you might call a child's curiosity about things. They also have the learning drive that children have, and it's easier like that to give them their, er, orders, so to speak."_

_"What sort of orders?"_

_"Their roles, Jeanie. They are told that they are railway engines and that they have to carry out the tasks that their controllers give them. You know, like how to pull express coaches and freight wagons and such. They are told that they must follow their instructions, but because of how big and strong they are when compared to humans, they must never harm humans in any way and to care for their passengers and look after the goods that they carry."_

_"Sort of like mechanical servants?"_ Jeanie asked.

_"Yes,"_ Sir Topham replied. _"You could say that."_

_"But if they're not supposed to harm people, how did Diesel Ten hurt that guy who attacked Daisy?"_

_"I don't know, Jeanie, and that's one of the things I need to find out. It could be because he's no longer an engine and the order not to harm anyone has failed in some way. I just don't know, to be honest, and it worries me."_

_"I can imagine,"_ said Jeanie. _"His two friends were moving that queer-looking hand-pump wagon quite fast. Is it supposed to go that fast without an engine?"_

_"Not with just two people pumping it, no. To get anywhere near that speed, you would normally need four people working it. It would appear that Splatter and Dodge, the two former diesels you saw on it, are quite stronger than normal people, and the stamina they must have had to keep it going at that speed, well, I'm simply amazed at them."_

_"Do you think any of the others are stronger than normal people?"_

_"I believe they are, Jeanie. When I was talking on the phone with Lawrence yesterday, he also mentioned that it took nearly six men to carry Gordon to the first-aid room, he was that heavy."_

_"Blimey!"_ exclaimed Jeanie. _"They don't look like they're heavier or stronger than real people, do they?"_

_"No, they don't," _said Sir Topham. _"That's one of the reasons why I decided to keep them isolated from the public. I shudder to think what could happen if one of them hurt someone by accident! "_

_"Where does their, er, sentience come from?"_ Jeanie then asked. _"I mean, it can't be like anything we actual humans have, can it?"_

Sir Topham looked thoughtful for a few moments before replying. _"That's a difficult one to answer properly, Jeanie. I can only say that it has to come from somewhere, but no-one's found the answer to that one yet."_

_"Oh,"_ said Jeanie. _"I suppose it's a bit like in a science fiction film with intelligent robots that can understand humans and all that."_

_"Indeed,"_ said Sir Topham. _"It's a wonder no-one's thought to make a film with talking robot trains yet, what with everything else they've thought of, no?"_

_"People would think it was a ridiculous idea!" _laughed Jeanie

_"Wouldn't they just,"_ chortled Sir Topham.

_"Small kids would love it, though,"_ said Jeanie. _"The producers could arrange for toy train sets to be made and get someone to write story books of the characters. They'd make a fortune!"_

_"I'd imagine so,"_ agreed Sir Topham. _"However, the fact that there are such things as talking trains has to stay a secret from the public, which is why all railway employees have to sign that confidentiality form when they start work on the railways, and why they can never say anything about them when they retire. If I were to retire today, Jeanie, by the time I wake up tomorrow morning, the fact that trains can speak and understand what I say to them would seem just like I had a very weird dream. I'd still remember my life over the years with the railway, but the railway magic would filter out anything to do with what I knew of its magic."_

_"And would it be like that for me if I resigned my job?"_ asked Jeanie, looking to Sir Topham.

_"Yes. You'd wake up the next morning feeling rather confused and seemingly forgetful. You'd be quite safe, I guarantee that, just that you'd not have the ability to talk to trains or to see their faces any more."_

_"Oh,"_ said Jeanie_. "I'd hate to wake up one morning and not be able to remember anything of my past."_

_"You'd still remember your past, Jeanie, just not anything about the railway magic. You'd still remember me and Peregrine and the others, even the fact that the engines all have names, just not the fact that those engines are sentient."_

_"Is that the reason why all ships and boats have names?"_

_"In a sense, yes,"_ said Sir Topham, _"though in the early days of sailing and the development of language, it was to do with grammatical gender, the fact that 'boat' or 'ship' was a feminine noun. Nowadays, it's any woman or female that's important to the manufacturer or captain, and also the fact that when a boat or ship is blessed with sentience, it gives them a sense of identity." _

_"Why are there male and female engines when all the coaches are female and the trucks are males, and mostly young boys?"_

_"Ah, that's simple,"_ said Sir Topham. _"According to my father's research, when all this started with the discovery of the ritual that could give sentience to inanimate mechanisms, no-one knew how to guarantee a specific gender. His notes say that there was a lot of experimentation at first before…before the gender of the new 'life', call it, could be specified. Eventually, when they found out the method, the coaches were given the, er, sentience of females because of their maternal nature, and the coaches that of males because of the male's willingness to carry out work tasks."_

_"I suppose that makes sense,"_ said Jeanie thoughtfully, _"but where do their different accents come from? I mean, Emily sounds Scottish, and Thomas sounds like a Londoner."_

_"That's another easy one. Although Emily was built in Doncaster, in Yorkshire, she has her accent as a tribute to her designer, Patrick Stirling. He was the Locomotive Superintendent of the Glasgow and South Western Railway from 1853 to 1866, you know. When he moved to the GNR in 1866, he built several locomotive types, including Emily. She's a 4-2-2 Stirling single, referred to sometimes as an 'eight-footer' because of her eight-foot diameter driving wheels. She was very fast in her day, mind, reaching up to more than sixty miles an hour, which was quite fast for 1895!_

_"Thomas, however, although he was built in the Brighton Railway Works, I think he picked up his accent from working on the docks in London, like how an Englishman's accent can sometimes alter slightly if he went to live for a long time in, say, Australia. Does that answer your question?"_

_"Yes, Sir Topham, it does. Er…yesterday, when you were talking about the engines being sent to the scrap yards, do they know they're going to die one day?"_

Jeanie thought she'd somehow upset Sir Topham when he didn't say anything for a few minutes, merely staring ahead of himself as he drove through the outskirts of Knapford.

_"I'm sorry,"_ she said quietly. _"I shouldn't have asked that."_

_"No,"_ said Sir Topham, looking over to her. _"It's something you wanted to know. The best I can come up with is to say that I don't think they tend to think of that. I think that we transfer a lot of our emotions onto them, much like what we do with pets. To be honest, Jeanie, I don't know. Having known the engines as engines since I was a child, and suddenly meeting them now as people, child-like people, that is, I suppose it's because I don't like the idea of children having to think about dying."_

Jeanie thought about Sir Topham words. _"I think you're right, Sir Topham. It's not a nice thing to think about at all, is it?"_

They both remained silent as Sir Topham drove through Knapford, arriving finally at the station's car park. Jeanie decided that she wouldn't ask him about what Thomas had told her yesterday of the short people in Arlesburgh. To her, they sounded just like what she knew midgets looked like, and the reason why the miniature engines would have been transformed into midgets instead of adult humans was something that a voice in the back of her mind was telling her it was something she wouldn't like at all.

ooo

Henry, after allowing the early morning sunlight to filter into the engine shed, decided that the others had slept for long enough. He gently shook awake the young boy next to him and then proceeded to wake up the rest of his friends.

_"Ooh, where am I?"_ moaned James_. "I've just had the worst weird ever!"_

_"Urgh, my legs are stiff,"_ complained Thomas.

_"Please let me go back to sleep,"_ whined Percy.

_"In case you've all forgotten,"_ said Henry, _"but Edward's coming back this morning."_

_"That's right,"_ said Thomas. _"We'd better get over to Knapford as soon as we can."_

_"I don't know about you lot, but I feel a bit strange this morning,"_ said Henry.

_"What do you mean?"_ asked James.

_"It's like I'm a bit…looser,"_ he replied. _"Hang on while I check something…"_

Henry then fumbled for a moment with the buttons of his green coat and then cried out, _"Look! I've undone my buttons!"_

_"Let me try!"_ said James, and, after a few seconds of fumbling, he, too, managed to un-button his coat. Thomas managed to undo his as well whilst Percy looked on with horror.

_"What does this mean?"_ Thomas asked. _"Are we dismantling ourselves now?"_

_"I don't like this,"_ said Percy. _"I said yesterday we might all end up in bits on the floor. I'm not un-doing my coat, no way!"_ and wrapped his arms tightly around his chest.

_"Aaaargh!"_ cried James_. "Look at my hand!"_

The others quickly looked over to James and, amidst a collection of 'Oohs' and 'Aahs' followed by a 'I told you so!' from Percy, they saw their red-coated friend with the most bizarre look on his face as he waved about his bare left hand in front of him, while holding his empty black glove in his right.

"YOU_'RE BREAKING UP!"_ wailed Percy. _"I don't want you to be in bits, James!" he cried to his friend. "Someone fetch Sir Topham, quick!"_

But before anyone could say or do anything in response, Henry suddenly let out a soft moan, and said, _"Ooh, I can feel a pressure building up inside me."_

_"What sort of pressure?"_ asked Thomas.

_"If I was still an engine,"_ said Henry, _"I'd be needing to vent some steam."_

_"But you haven't got any steam release valves, have you?"_ said James. _"What are you going to do?"_

_"I don't know,"_ said Henry, _"but if I can't release this pressure, something might blow inside me and then what'll happen?"_

_"Wait a minute, Henry,"_ said Thomas. _"I think I know what you can do. I saw my driver do something once when he complained of something about to burst inside him. Now your coat is open, you see that linked strip of metal down by there?"_

Thomas pointed to the top of Henry's legs.

_"Yes,"_ said Henry.

_"Well, open that up and you'll see there's a short tube you can pour water out of. I saw my driver do it next to a signal post once when we were waiting to cross over onto the mail line by Wellsworth. He was smiling when he climbed back into my cab so it must have worked. Yes, I remember him saying 'Ah, I needed that!'."_

_"But what if I need that water again later on?"_ Henry asked Thomas with a concerned look on his face.

_"Well, look around for an empty bucket or something. You can always tell one of the fitters where it is in case you need it again."_

_"That's good thinking, Thomas,"_ said Henry. _"Well done!"_

_"There's a bucket over there,"_ said the young boy, pointing over to the inside wall of the shed.

_"Oh, good,"_ said Henry. _"I'd better be quick in case something blows, and then where will I be?"_

Henry quickly went over to where the bucket was with Percy following him to make sure that nothing fell off his taller friend.

_"No sense in taking any chances,"_ said James. _"Percy may be right in what he says."_

Thomas turned to look at his James and saw that he'd managed to get his glove back on.

_"Yes,"_ said Thomas, _"you're right. We'll have to ask Sir Topham or Jeanie what this all means for us when we get to Knapford."_

_"Well, Thomas,"_ said Henry a minute later as he re-joined his friends, _"that certainly does make me feel a lot better. I think I needed that!"_

_"And his tube didn't fall off,"_ said Percy.

ooo

_"SPLODGE! WAKE UP!"_ bellowed Diesel 10.

_"Uh, what's wrong, boss?"_ asked Splatter sleepily.

_"What's happening?"_ asked Dodge, panicking that something else had happened during the night.

_"YOU'RE TAKING ME TO BRENDAM DOCKS, THAT'S WHAT'S HAPPENING! NOW, GET YOUR LAZY SELVES UP AND TAKE ME TO KNAPFORD. I'M HUNGRY!"_

_"I had a wonderful dream just now,"_ said Splatter to Dodge as he struggled to get out of his sleeping bag. _"I dreamt I was living in a big building with lots of other people, and we all had little rooms of our own. The people who were looking after us seemed to think that someone was going to come to our rooms during the night when we were all asleep, so they made sure that all the doors were locked. They were funny-looking doors, not like normal doors. They were made out of metal bars."_

_"That's strange,"_ said Dodge. _"I dreamt I lived in a building like that as well. I wonder where it was."_

_"Did the man come to take you away as well?"_ Splatter asked his friend.

_"Was he wearing a white coat like the one that took me away from my building?"_ Dodge asked him.

_"Yeah, that was him. He made me lie down on a bed and stuck a needle in my hand. I asked him what was he doing that for and he said that I was going to be useful for a change. I can't remember what happened after that because HE woke me up!"_

_"All I remember after he stuck the needle in my arm is waking up outside a big factory with some empty trucks behind me. If you ask me, I think being like people is affecting our minds. I never had dreams like that when I was still an engine. I can't wait till Sir Topham sorts all this out."_

_"Yeah, and me!"_

_"GET A MOVE ON, YOU TWO!"_

_"Yes, Boss,"_ said Dodge.

_"Coming, Boss,"_ said Splatter.

_"What's that tune you're making, Daisy?"_ asked Dodge, looking at the former railcar sitting on the ground, rocking back and fro as she hummed a tune to herself.

_"I don't know,"_ she said. _"I woke up just now when Diesel Ten was shouting at you two and it was still in my head after my dream."_

_"I like it,"_ said Splatter.

_"Yeah,"_ agreed Dodge. _"It's quite catchy. Will you teach it to me?"_

_"PINCHY WILL BE TEACHING YOU SOMETHING IF YOU DON'T GET YOURSELVES OVER TO THIS PUMP TROLLEY!"_ roared Diesel 10.

_"My inside just rumbled!"_ moaned Splatter. _"It feels all empty!"_

"_You coming with us, Daisy?" _Dodge asked. _"We're going to Brendam Docks,"_ he added.

_"Yes please,"_ she replied. _"But I'm feeling hungry, so you'll have to get me to the café before those steamies eat all the food!"_

As his two minions powered the trolley along to Knapford Station, Diesel 10 pondered over what he'd heard them talking about inside the diesel shed. He, too, remembered a man sticking a needle in his arm, but it was an arm that he had instead of Pinchy. Yes, he definitely remembered having two arms in the beginning of his dream, but there were a lot of other people running about and shouting loudly all around him, and there were lots of explosions going off as well at the same time. He remembered a loud explosion close behind him before everything went all black before he woke up in a room with lots of shining lights and other people in white coats rushing about. He also remembered people dressed in dark robes as well, chanting strange words there was more fire. Yes, he certainly remembered the fire, after all, afterwards, he'd realised that it had made him much bigger and stronger than what he was before.

ooo

The rail-replacement service buses were picking up passengers from outside the station to take them around Sodor or to Barrow where those that needed to travel further again could catch the trains that were still operating normally on the mainland. Sir Topham and Jeanie walked round to the traffic office entrance on the main platform and went in to be met by a smiling Debra, who told Sir Topham that Edward and Toad had just been seen by the stationmaster at Kellsthorpe Road, and both of them appeared to be just fine. They should be arriving at Knapford in about an hour and a half, all being well.

_"That's marvellous news, Debra. Thank you,"_ said a smiling Sir Topham.

Jeanie felt her stomach turn over with nervous anticipation. _Oh God,_ she thought. _It's really happening. I'm going to be talking with a steam engine!_

_"Not long now, Jeanie,"_ said Sir Topham.

_"I know,"_ she gulped. _"I'm…I don't know if I'm nervous or excited by it."_

_"Look to it with eager anticipation,"_ said Sir Topham. _"That's the best way to deal with it."_

_"I'll try, Sir Topham. If Debra can log me onto her computer, I can search for that information we need to take my mind off it."_

_"Yes, we need to make a start with that business as soon as possible. Debra, if you'd be so kind as to let Jeanie have access to the computer, she's going to be quite busy this morning researching some stuff for me."_

_"Of course, Sir Topham,"_ said Debra. _"With no trains running on Sodor, I don't need to use it much today. Jeanie, if you'd care to sit by here next to me, pull over that chair by there; I'll get you logged-in and then you can do whatever you want."_

_"Thank you, Debra,"_ said Jeanie, taking her jacket off and placing it on a hook on the wall behind the entrance door.

_"I'll be in my office checking with the camp sites and Crovan's Gate if you need me," _said Sir Topham as he unlocked the door to his own office. _"Oh, Debra…"_

_"Yes, Sir Topham?"_

_"If I can have a cup of tea in ten minutes, please?"_

_"Of course, Sir Topham,"_ she replied. _"Jeanie, tea for you as well?"_

_"Oh, yes please. Thank you, Debra,"_ said Jeanie, smiling back at her.

Sir Topham entered his office and sat down at his desk. He decided that he had better call St Tibba's Hospital first to check on how Burnett Stone was doing before he did anything else. The sooner he could arrange to have a proper chat with him, the better.

For the next hour or so, Jeanie kept herself busy scouring the Internet for information on the healing waters at Glastonbury. She was just printing off some interesting notes on Glastonbury Tor and the nearby spring for Sir Topham to have a look at when Debra took his cup of tea in for him, returning a minute later carrying a brown folder. On the front of the folder in large black letters was written 'EDWARD'. She handed it to Jeanie and said, _"Sir Topham says that you may want to see this."_

_"Oh, thank you,"_ said Jeanie, opening the folder and seeing a photograph of a normal blue steam engine.

Reading the typed notes on one of the many sheets of paper underneath the photo, she learnt that Edward was a blue 4-4-0 tender engine, and was a rebuild of a Sharp Stewart "Larger Seagull" loco supplied to the Furness Railway in 1896 before coming to work on Sodor. _He's quite old, according to this, _she thought to herself. _If the other steam engines are as old as him, I'm surprised they don' t look like old men after they changed. I wonder why they don't. _

The rest of the notes were either details of repair work that had been carried out on him over the years or copies of invoices for spare parts that he'd required, and after flicking through them all, she closed the folder and placed it to one side. She then re-arranged the notes that she'd printed off and returned to the computer to start searching for information on the Red Scarab beetle.

This, though, turned out to be not as easy as she thought it would be. The only references to a red scarab beetle she could find were for creatures either used in computer games, characters in super-hero comics, or red-legged scarab beetles that had shells of an entirely different colour. The encyclopaedia web sites weren't very helpful either, if at all. Sighing, Jeanie looked up at the wall clock to check the time and saw that it had just turned a quarter to ten. _Edward should be arriving soon,_ she thought to herself. _As long as he hadn't fallen ill or broken down, _she mused, _or whatever it is that sentient steam engines do when they go bad_.

_Maybe I'll search for a different type of animal with a 'coat of blood' instead_, she decided, but the only things she could find with any connection, even when using the word 'beast' in her searches were links to some fictional stories that people had written and then uploaded onto various creative writing web sites. She noticed that the one thing all the stories had in common, though, was a wolf character whose fur was regularly described as being like 'a coat of blood'. _No wonder the search found all these sites,_ she thought to herself, _they're all vampire stories!_

Switching the search words around led her to one site that advertised a specially designed coat that some rock singer wore when he was on stage, and, impressed by the style of the coat and the look of it, she made a note of the site's web address to order one for herself when her first pay cheque cleared. Many of the other links, though, did have all the search words, but they weren't connected in any way, but there was one link she saw that was referencing 'beast', 'coat of blood', and the biblical story of Joseph and his coat of many colours. Out of curiosity, she clicked on the link and started to read. She'd just reached the part when a wolf that had been captured by Joseph's brothers was talking to their father when, just a few minutes after ten o'clock, an ear-piercing whistle and a series of loud 'Peep-peeps' outside the traffic office made both her and Debra almost jump out of their skin. It was Edward and Toad finally arriving back at Knapford Station.

Sir Topham almost ran out of his office in his wish to see Sodor's one remaining steam engine. Jeanie and Debra grinned at each other and followed him out onto the platform just in time to see the blue engine screech to a halt in front of them. As the engine's driver jumped down onto the platform to talk with Sir Topham, a barrage of loud greetings and questions caused Jeanie to look about in surprise as the group of former engines that had been waiting in the station café burst out onto the platform and started calling out to the engine.

_"EDWARD!"_

_"Look at US! We're like people now!"_

_"WELCOME BACK!"_

_"HOW ARE YOU?"_

_"EDWARD, IT'S US! Your friends! We've changed into people!"_

Jeanie looked back at the blue steam engine and took in the beauty of this vintage piece of machinery. Its blue paintwork shone in the morning sunshine and jets of steam hissed out from its valves near the ground as a soft "Chuff-chuff" competed against the loud salutations and queries. She saw Sir Topham talking to the driver and then the fireman as he leant out from the cab. Thomas, Henry, James and Percy had all gone over to stand in front of the engine and were carrying on with their interrogation. The gentle whooshing from the engine in front of her, the just-barely heard conversation between Sir Topham and the two men that had returned with Edward on her left, the loud questions from the former engines on her right, and she was standing there silently with Debra at her side, not knowing what to say or do or expect next. All of a sudden, she felt so alone and lost, and as she watched Thomas and his friends talking to the blue engine, she noticed that, although a two or even three or four-way conversation was going on amongst them, she couldn't actually hear the engine when he seemingly replied to them. Then she jumped in alarm as Sir Topham gently took hold of her left arm and asked her, _"Are you ready?"_

_"Er…no, um, YES! Yes, I am ready, I think!"_

_"Come to the front with me, please, Jeanie, and I'll introduce you to Edward."_

Her heart thudding in her chest, Jeanie allowed Sir Topham to lead her along the platform until they were standing next to Thomas and the others.

_"Gentlemen,"_ said Sir Topham, _"please, quieten down for a moment. I have something very important to do right now."_

Thomas, James, Henry and Percy all fell silent and stepped back to give Sir Topham and Jeanie some room. Jeanie looked over at them and smiled as they all grinned back at her, knowing what was going to happen next. Thomas was nodding his head as if to say how pleased he was for her to meet another of his friends and James and Percy were whispering something to each other, then she heard Sir Topham say, _"Edward, I would like to introduce you to our newest and most recent employee, Miss Jeanie Watkins."_

She turned her head to look at the round front of the engine's black smokebox door, not daring to breath as she waited for to see what Edward's face looked like.

_"Jeanie,"_ she then heard Sir Topham. _"This is Edward!"_

She continued to stare at the smokebox door, wondering how long it would take for Edwards face to appear. She wondered what his voice would sound like when the engine spoke to her. Would she hear it out loud with her ears, she thought, or would she hear it in her mind like when Lady had spoken to her only the day before. She waited and looked, listening very carefully, but nothing happened.

_"Is everything all right, Jeanie?"_ Sir Topham asked her.

_"Er…I…I can't see his face, Sir Topham,"_ she replied quietly. _"I can't hear him say anything, either."_

Sir Topham looked back to see Edward looking rather puzzled at both of them.

_"Oh dear,"_ said Sir Topham.

Sudden movement caught his eye and he turned his head to see that Thomas had suddenly gone over to the disappointed Jeanie and had wrapped his arms around her shoulders, whispering something into her ear as she wiped away at a tear running down her cheek.

ooo

At that same moment at Brendam Docks, Diesel 10 was re-reading the letter someone had slipped into his pocket the previous day. _If someone's playing a trick on me,_ he thought to himself, _they'd going to find out just how funny my new 'Pinchy' thinks it is._

He walked along the roadway into the dock and headed over towards the container compounds. As he passed compound number two and approached the wire fence that sectioned off compound three, a man leaning against the fence below the sign with a big '3' on it stepped towards him, and said, _"I see you got my note, Diesel Ten." _

Hearing the lilting tones of the stranger's voice, Diesel 10 wondered where he'd heard that particular accent before, for it certainly wasn't English. He'd heard that accent many times on his travels on the mainland before coming to work on Sodor, and then he nodded to himself. _Yes,_ he thought, _I've heard that accent in South Wales._

The stranger appeared to be rather well-built despite the knee-length, brown overcoat he was wearing with a hood over his head and a scarf around his lower face hiding his features.

"_Who are you?"_ Diesel 10 growled at the man.

"_Telling you to wash the coal for that magic engine with the river water was a rather good suggestion of mine, don't you think?"_ the stranger replied cheekily, as if he hadn't heard the former diesel's angry demand.

It was then that Diesel 10 realised that he'd met this man before. _"YOU!" _he shouted.

The man then lowered his hood and took off his scarf to reveal the face of a man in his late fifties with sharp, piercing blue eyes that constantly looked about as though their owner didn't trust anything that was going on around him. He had long, grey hair that reached down to his shoulders and a well-kept dark grey beard that matched his eyebrows and hair.

Diesel 10 stepped up close to the smirking man and waved Pinchy in front of his face. _"I'M NOT SUPPOSED TO BE LIKE THIS!" _he snarled. _"IT WASN'T PART OF THE PLAN!"_

"_Yes, so I see,"_ the man replied calmly, ignoring Pinchy. _"It was a…rather unexpected complication, that. No need to worry, though, I've got a back-up plan that'll take care of things should all else fail. Come, I'll introduce you to him."_

The man led Diesel 10 to one of the larger containers in the compound and un-locked the container's double-doors at one end. Metal creaked as the man swung the doors open to reveal a very large something hidden under an equally large tarpaulin sheet. Whatever the thing under the sheet was, it was standing on two iron rail tracks that had been bolted onto the floor of the container. Diesel 10 stepped into the container and, after scanning his eyes over whatever it was that was filling the container, turned back to glare at the one-time driver of Horrid Lorry Number 2, and demanded, _"What's this?"_

"_Before you find out what's under this sheet," _the man replied, taking an envelope out from inside his coat, _"I need to explain something to you, first."_

ooo

Edward had had a very strange welcome when he'd arrived at Knapford Station. He'd given one mighty blast and a couple of short peeps on his whistle before pulling up to a stop outside the traffic office, just as Sir Topham, his secretary and a young woman he didn't recognise had come out onto the platform to meet him. Some other men in long, coloured coats had run out of the station café, shouting all sorts of things at him. The colours of their coats had reminded him of his friends, Thomas, Henry, James and Percy, which was a strange thing to see, he'd thought, but what had been even stranger was that they'd sounded just like his friends. His driver had told him when he was still at Barrow that something really strange had happened on Sodor and that all the engines and wagons had changed, but he hadn't said just how they'd changed. _What did that man in the red coat mean when he said they'd changed into people? _

_**~James, is that really you? Henry? Thomas? Percy? What's happened to all of you?~**_

His driver jumped down to speak with Sir Topham whilst his fireman stayed in his cab to tend to his firebox.

_"HOW ARE YOU?"_ Thomas called to him.

_**~I'm feeling really tired. I was so scared that I might feel ill when I started my journey back here. Is it really true that all the others have disappeared?~**_

_"No,"_ said Henry, _"but they've changed like we have. We've all become like real people. Thomas said that it's because Lady has lost all of her magic. She's really ill and no-one knows what's wrong with her."_

_"We were really sad yest-"_ Thomas started, but he was cut off by Sir Topham saying that he had something important to do.

_"Edward,"_ he heard Sir Topham say to him, _"I would like to introduce you to our newest and most recent employee, Miss Jeanie Watkins. Jeanie, this is Edward."_

Edward was pleased when he heard that. It wasn't often that he met new human colleagues, and he felt the subtle change within him that those particular words from Sir Topham caused to happen. A slight tingle somewhere inside his smokebox told him that his face was now visible to her and that she would be able to hear him.

_**~Hello, Jeanie Watkins. It's a pleasure to meet you.~**_

But something was wrong, Edward noticed, for instead of smiling or looking surprised like all the other people he'd been introduced to, she looked rather puzzled, as though she was expecting something to occur only to be disappointed when nothing at all happened.

_**~Miss Watkins, can you hear me? Can you see me?~**_

Again, there was no sign of acknowledgement from the young woman.

_**~Why hasn't it worked, Sir Topham? What's wrong?~**_

_"Oh dear,"_ replied Sir Topham. _"Lady spoke to her yesterday, Edward, so I'm rather surprised she can't see or speak with you. I think it must be due to the weakness of the railway magic."_

Edward was sad to hear that, and when he saw the sad look on the young woman's face, he so much wanted to help her, but how? Then he had an idea.

_**~Thomas,~**_ he said. _**~Tell her that I am really pleased to meet her, but the reason she can't see or hear me yet must be because of what's happened to the magic here on Sodor. Tell Jeanie, when all this is sorted out, she will be that first person I will talk to!~**_

Edward then saw Thomas go over to Jeanie and hug her, passing the message on to her before leading her away towards the station café.

_"Edward,"_ said Sir Topham. _"That was very good of you. Go and stock up with coal and water and then go and have a nice wash down. You must be worn out after your journey home."_

_**~Yes, Sir Topham,~**_ replied Edward. _**I'll go and do that right away.~**_

_"Please can we go with him, Sir Topham?"_ asked Percy. _"We can tell him all about Lady!"_

_"Please, Sir Topham, can we?"_ begged James. _"I want Edward to see my shiny new red coat!"_

_"And I need to warn him about the diesels," _added Henry.

_"Very well, then,"_ said Sir Topham. _"You can all go with him, but if he needs to sleep, you must leave him in peace!"_

And so, Edward set off, taking Toad and three of his friends with him over to the marshalling yards at Tidmouth for a long-awaited wash down and rest.

Thomas sat Jeanie down at one of the tables in the café and went over to the counter to get a cup of tea for her. Placing it on the table, she mumbled a quiet, _"Thank you,"_ as she wrapped her hands around the warm cup.

_"I…I was so looking f-f-forward to my first real t-t-talking train,"_ she stuttered to him. _"I-I spoke with Lady yesterday, and that was real, I know, b-b-but just now, n-nothing at all happened. W-w-what's wrong with me?"_

_"There's nothing wrong with you, Jeanie,"_ said Thomas softly to her. _"Like us trains, all of a sudden, your world has been turned upside-down and you don't know what to do about it. Wait, you spoke with Lady? That's marvellous! What did she say to you? She spoke to me yesterday as well!"_

Although he was over the moon to see his old friend, Edward, safely back at Knapford, and wanted to chat with him about everything he'd experienced since waking up yesterday morning as a person, he'd seen how upset this young woman had been when the link between her and Edward had failed to materialise, and she'd been so kind yesterday when talking with all the other former engines and coaches, even the former trucks, helping them to understand things from a human perspective, that he felt he had to return the favour somehow. Besides, he'd see Edward later, no doubt.

Jeanie took a small sip of her tea before speaking, shuddering as she realised that Thomas hadn't put any sugar in it. _Never mind, _she thought, _I'll drink it without._

_"She…she said that I mustn't doubt the truth I already know, and she showed me what she looked like as a real engine. Then, when Sir Topham gave me some photos to look at, I recognised a picture of Lady, just as she appeared to me in my mind, but the engine in the picture didn't have a face, either, and…and last night at Hatt Hall, I saw a picture of her when she was created and…and I saw her face!"_

_"You…you saw when she was created? How? How was she created?"_

_"I-I can't talk about that. It's something that Sir Topham said mustn't get out. He called it 'Company Business'."_

_"Oh,"_ said Thomas, frowning slightly with disappointment. _"I understand. He says that about a lot of things we're not meant to know."_

_"Yesterday,"_ continued Jeanie, _"I was suddenly introduced to all this 'magical railway' business and it took a while before I started to believe it was all true, even after the way I was whisked to Hatt Hall, and when I was amongst all of you former engines, I felt…I felt separate from it because I still hadn't talked to a real engine. I felt like an imposter of some sort, as if I didn't deserve to be here."_

_"But look at it this way, Jeanie,"_ said Thomas, his face livening up with excitement, _"for Lady to speak with you yesterday, she must have felt you were important enough to do it while she was so weak. I think that you have a part to play in what's happening to us and somehow, you can help us be trains again."_

_"You-you really think so?"_ Jeanie asked, her voice trembling.

_"Yes, I do,"_ said Thomas_, "and I'll tell that to Sir Topham as well."_

_"Th-thank you, Thomas,"_ said Jeanie, leaning over and hugging him. _"Thank you. You've made me feel so much better now," _she then said, kissing his cheek before she returned to her seat.

Smiling at the former engine as she picked up her cup of tea, she chuckled and said, _"For someone with grey skin like yours, Thomas, you can't half blush!"_

ooo

The grey-haired driver of Horrid Lorry Number 2 opened the envelope and carefully pulled out a sheet of paper. _"This is my birth certificate,"_ he said, waving it gently in front of him. _"My name is Tiberius Hatt, and I'm Sir Topham's half-brother."_

_"Well, hello to you,"_ said Diesel 10, _"though why you've caused him all this worry I don't know, after all, it's not a very brotherly thing to do, is it?" _

_"Let me explain. Many years ago, his, sorry, our father, when he was going to the scrap yards in Barry all those times to save the condemned steam engines, he got 'very friendly' with a woman that worked in the offices there. Well, being so far from home, you can guess what happened next, or maybe not, seeing as you've been a diesel engine all your life. Well, anyway, they had an affair and she got pregnant. To avoid any embarrassment and shame from dirtying the 'well-respected' Topham name, he paid the woman some money to have a back-street abortion and to promise not to tell anyone about the affair._

_"Upset, she left her job and went back to live with her parents, but she didn't want to have the shame of an abortion ruining her own good name, and so, several months later, I was born. I never knew who my father was until I was twenty-one, when my mother told me the truth before she died. It was hard going back in those days, especially when you've got a growing boy to feed and clothe and you've got no work because your parents insisted that you bring up the kid by yourself. Anyway, my father never found out about me, and so, when he died, I wasn't left anything in his will. It all went to my brother, well, half-brother, Stephen Topham Hatt. The big house, all the money, and the Sodor railways all went to him, and now I want my share!"_

_"Does Sir Topham know about you?"_ Diesel 10 asked.

_"No, he doesn't, not yet."_

_"Are you going to tell him?"_

_"Oh yes, I'll be telling him, boyo, and I can't wait to see his face when I do, especially when I tell him that it's thanks to me he hasn't got any trains to play with!"_

_"Well,"_ said Diesel 10, _"I don't know what he'll say or do about the house or the money, but thanks to you, you won't have any trains to play with, either. We've all changed into people now, or have you forgotten that?"_

_"Ah, but here's the cunning part of my plan. You see, my devious diesel, I can tell him how he can get his trains back again, and if he doesn't split his inheritance with me, I stay silent and he won't get his trains back . "_

_"You think that'll work? He's already lost two engines for good already, and Gordon's not doing so well, either. I know how much that blue boaster means to Lady Hatt, and if he dies as well, Sir Topham will really hate you for it, half-brother or no half-brother!"_

_"The amount of money he's got tied up in the Sodor railways, he's got no option but to share everything with me, or else he'll be ruined. He can't report me to the police, after all, would they believe his wild tales of talking trains being turned into people? I don't think so!"_

_"What about us engines?"_ Diesel 10 asked the man. _"You think we'll all be happy to stay like this? I don't think so! You'll have us to worry about!" _

Diesel 10 flexed the prongs of his metal hand. If this "Tiberius Hatt" was going to mess up all the engines' futures, well, he was going to mess up Tiberius' face! To emphasis his point, Diesel 10 repeatedly clanged Pinchy's metal prongs together in front of the man's face.

Tiberius just smiled at Diesel 10, ignoring the implied threat of violence against him.

_"Ah, but this is the beauty of my plan, you see. If he won't share any of his inheritance with me, I'll just go for the end option."_

_"Which is?"_

_"When I was born, there was no such thing as DNA fingerprinting, and so there was no way my mother could prove who my father was. Now th-"_

_"What's this dee-en-eh fingerprinting thing you talk of?"_

_"Ah, yes. You wouldn't know about that, sorry. DNA fingerprinting is examining the teeny-weeny bits that make up a human being and comparing them to the teeny-weeny bits of someone else to see if they're related by blood. Think of it as though your mechanics were examining your dirty oil and grease to compare it against some dirty oil they'd found on the tracks one day to see if it was you that had an oil spill or something. It's all clever stuff that can prove that I'm related to Stephen Hatt."_

_"Well, if that's the case, then why don't you do that to claim your share of everything?"_

_"WHAT, AFTER THE WAY MY FATHER TREATED MY MOTHER? IT'S HIS FAULT SHE DIED YOUNG, AND HE WANTED _ME_ DEAD AS WELL! NO BLOODY CHANCE!"_

_"What are you going to do, then?"_ he demanded. _"What's this 'end option' of yours?"_

_"If my 'brother' won't play with me, then I'll stop his 'game' for good. That's why I've brought my friend under here along!" _Tiberius patted the tarpaulin affectionately.

_"And who exactly is 'your friend'?"_

_"Can you guess who it is yet?"_ Tiberius asked, slowly pulling down the large tarpaulin sheet to reveal a Billington E2-Class 0-6-0T locomotive.

Diesel 10 gaped. It was that blasted steamy, Thomas! _Wait a minute,_ he thought to himself. _Where's his face?_ This was definitely a joke being played on him, he decided, especially as he'd already seen Thomas that morning walking with his puffball friends to Knapford.

Tiberius took out of his coat pocket a small torch and switched it on. He then walked down the inside of the container and shone it on the side of the engine's cab to reveal its number. Diesel 10 followed him and saw a yellow number one that had been hand-painted onto the side of the engine's water tank. The man obviously had a plot to implicate Thomas in something. There was even a streak of yellow paint that had run down the side of the tank before it had had a chance to dry properly.

_"What's the meaning of this, then?"_ Diesel 10 asked him.

_"This is my game-changer,"_ Tiberius sniggered, before squeezing past the former diesel and walking back to stand in front of the fake Thomas.

_"Come here and learn something about yourself,"_ he said to Diesel 10.

Diesel 10 walked over to the opened end of the container and watched Tiberius opening a small metal trunk that was resting on top of the engine's front buffer beam. Tiberius then lifted out a small rock and placed it lovingly into an outer pocket of his coat. He then climbed up onto the engine's buffer beam and unscrewed the locking handles of the engine's smokebox door, carefully swinging the round door fully open. _"Watch this," _whispered Tiberius.

Tiberius shone his torch at the upper back wall of the smokebox and reached in with his hand and slid open a bolt, causing a metal flap to fall down and reveal a small compartment. He then took out the small rock from his coat pocket and held it in the beam of his torch. Diesel 10 could see now that the rock had a great many flat sides to it, and what really surprised to him was that the white beam of light, when it come out the other side of the rock, was split into several colours, just like a rainbow in the sky after it had rained.

_"What's that?"_ he asked.

_"This, my dear diesel friend, is what allows you engines to feel alive. It's what let's you think, to see, to hear, and to talk to each other and to all the railway staff. It's your brain, well, not YOUR brain, Diesel Ten, but this fellow's brain. Watch!"_

Tiberius carefully placed the faceted piece of rock securely into a depression inside the small compartment and closed the metal flap, sliding the bolt back across to lock it shut. Then he closed the engine's smokebox door and climbed back down to stand in front of the dormant engine.

_"Any moment now,"_ he again whispered.

Diesel 10 watched and waited for several seconds, then, the black metalwork of the smokebox door started to morph into a face that he expected, well, he wasn't sure what he expected, but he certainly didn't expect to see a grey face with so much, _is that grease_ _on it? It looks more like what my driver has on his face when he says he didn't have to shave before coming to work that morning! He doesn't look like Thomas at all!_

_"Who is he?"_ he asked Tiberius, but the man remained silent, simply pointing up at the engine's face with his finger.

Diesel 10 returned his gaze to the engine's face and saw its eyes flicker open and swivel around for a few moments before finally staring back down at him.

_**~Who are YOU?~**_ the engine snarled at him.

_"I'm Diesel 10," _he sneered back_. "Who are YOU?"_

_**~So you're the big bad diesel that Tiberius has told me so much about, eh? Well, you don't look like much,~**_ the engine remarked snidely, then, still glaring at the former diesel, he added, _**~For your information, my name is Tyrone, and I'm going to kill Sir Topham Hatt! ~**_

ooOOoo


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

It was a chilly morning and Geoffrey Travers stared out of the campsite's administration office doorway in complete and utter bemusement. These people, he thought to himself, were the strangest "trainspotters", as Sir Topham Hatt had called them, he had _ever_ seen. He had no idea where they came from, but, from their strange-looking grey skin, he assumed them to be from some foreign country where they didn't have much sun, either that or they were zombies. No, not zombies, for they were acting too friendly to be wanting to eat his brain, or maybe they were vampires. Yes, definitely vampires, but, then again, vampires only came out at night, so, whoever they were or wherever they came from, they were acting as though they weren't used to modern civilisation at all. After they'd arrived yesterday afternoon, all they did was walk around pointing at things and saying "Ooh, look at that!"

The desperate plea he'd received yesterday afternoon from Sir Topham for him to open up his three campsites to accommodate "a few" stranded visitors stuck on Sodor due to the island-wide signal failure certainly balanced out his own request a couple of years ago for the trains to move his caravans from a flooded camp site. Hopefully, Sir Topham had added, it wouldn't take too long to sort out that signal problem.

There were several family groups amongst the visitors, Geoffrey could see, as there were adults and many young boys, _funny there's no girls with them, _he mused, berthed in all his caravans, but, watching them yesterday as they got off the coaches that had brought them to the camp, they were all acting as though they were meeting each other for the very first time. It was most odd, and what was with all those coloured clothes they were wearing, and again this morning? Do they mean something in particular, or is it some sort of fashion trend where they came from? He was going to have a few pertinent questions for Sir Topham when he saw him next, that's for sure! _Good Lord, _he thought to himself, _what on Earth are those boys doing?_

Geoffrey watched in amazement as a long chain of about two dozen boys ran wildly about the camp site, weaving in and out amongst the caravans and laughing like crazy. It wasn't a very cheerful laugh they were doing, he thought, it was rather more like a snickering was full of derision, like something someone really nasty would make to someone less fortunate than themselves. Most of them, he could see, were dressed in grey, one-piece overalls, but others were wearing the same style of clothing but coloured in various shades of brown or cream. Indeed, he could even see one or two red, green, or mauve sets of overalls as well, but what stood out the most was the strange rhyme they were all singing when they weren't "laughing":

_"We're free, we're free, no more biffing, no more bashing,_

_No more engines dash-dash-dashing._

_No more James, no more Dis-easel, no choking smoke, no stinky diesel. _

_No more quarries, nor coalpit, nor another waste dump that smells like sh-" _

The office phone ringing behind him caused Geoffrey to miss whatever the rest of the song was as he went back into the office to answer it.

Meanwhile, inside one of the nearby caravans, Rosie was feeling most perturbed. _"I've never heard any of us releasing steam like THAT_ _before,"_ she said, _"and WHAT is that strange smell?"_

_"I don't know,"_ said Oliver, shrugging his shoulders as he spoke, "_and it came from my rear as well, would you believe? When I woke up this morning, I had this strong urge to vent water. My tanks that once held fifteen-hundred gallons have now been replaced by something that can barely hold a pint! And getting rid of my waste, well, that was really messy! It's a good thing my driver explained yesterday what I had to do about that!"_

_"I know,"_ said Rosie. "_Emily was explaining to me what that Jeanie woman had told her. It sounded ever so complicated, but we should get used to it all after a while, she said."_

_"I hope so," _said Oliver._ "If we're going to be like this for however long it takes Sir Topham to fix us, there's a lot of other things we're going to have to learn as well."_

_"You're right, and I wish Thomas was here to help me," _sighed Rosie with a dreamy look in her eyes.

_"I hope my driver gets here soon," _ said Oliver. _"He said he was going to show us how to cook food."_

_"A'm genna gie those bampots a guid scolding when a gait ma haunds on them," _said Emily.

_"Aw, leave them alone, Emily," _said Mavis, spreading some jam onto a slice of bread. _"They're only having a bit of fun. Emily?..." _

Mavis wanted to know why her friends speech had become more difficult to understand since they'd all woken up as humans, but didn't really want to offend her, either.

_"Yea, Mavis?"_

_"Er... nothing, sorry. It doesn't matter now," _she replied, so, instead, she turned her mind to the vague memories of the rather unusual dream she had had before waking up that morning, a dream in which she'd been mocked and jeered at by people for wanting to join a rugby team.

_"I wonder if there's a game they can play instead of running about like that?" _ said Toby, standing next to Emily as they watched the procession of former trucks pass below the window of their caravan. _"It'll stop them getting up to mischief later on once they get bored."_

_"Maybe you should ask the campsite owner,"_ suggested Mavis. _"Maybe he's got a ball of some sort that other children play with when they stay here?_

ooo

_"Oh, my head aches,"_ moaned Gordon as he started to come round.

_"Ah,"_ exclaimed Lawrence, sitting near the cot that the sickened former engine was laying on, _"your awake!"_

_"Where...where am I?"_ Gordon asked, looking around to find his bearings.

_"You fell ill when you were talking to Molly yesterday. I'll get you some water to drink. How do you feel?"_

_"I feel...fine."_

With that, the Repair Works manager got up and went over to the small wash basin across the room. _"Do you remember what happened to you?"_ he asked as he filled a plastic cup with water.

_"Ye-yes. I remember Molly dying, then I felt very hot and started coughing. I think...I think I fainted then. How...how is Neville?"_

_"I ha-...he's gone as well, Gordon. We've lost the two of them, I'm sorry to say."_

_"Damn it all,"_ cursed Gordon. _"Do you know what was wrong with them?"_

_"No, only what we could see and hear. I don't know why they didn't change like all the rest of you. Have you any ideas?"_

_"No, I don't. Where's Victor?"_

_"He...he's not quite the same as he was yesterday, Gordon. His speech is reverting back to Spanish. I'm noticing the same sort of thing with you as well. You don't seem so...subservient any more."_ Lawrence hadn't failed to notice the lack of 'Sirs' that Gordon would normally use in his conversations with people, and it had got him thinking. _"I believe you've both become even more human-like than you were yesterday. Tell me, Gordon, what is your role here?"_

A look of puzzlement spread across Gordon's face for a few moments before being replaced by a smile. _"I pu-, well, I USED to pull the express, but I can't do that now, at least, not until Sir Topham finds a way to return us all back to engines and wagon again."_

_"Thank you, Gordon,"_ acknowledged Lawrence, mentally sighing with relief. The next few moments could have gotten a hell of a lot complicated if the well-built man on the cot had said anything different_. "I'll let Sir Topham know you're awake and feeling better. See if you can sit up. If you don't feel dizzy, try standing."_

Slowly, Gordon pulled himself up and lowered his legs onto the floor. Pushing his hands down on to the side of the cot, he raised himself up to stand on his feet and, after a few seconds, took a couple of steps forward, his coat swinging open as he did so. _"How's that?" _he asked.

_"That's excellent. No dizziness or anything?"_

_"No, but, tell me, Mr. Harrington, what the hell is all this on my chest?"_

_"Ah,"_ said Lawrence. _"We need to talk about that, so if you don't mind, Gordon, maybe you'd care to sit back down again?"_

ooo

Dinnertime was approaching and, still feeling somewhat upset and embarrassed after her disappointing meeting with Edward, Jeanie had returned to the office and was half-heartedly tapping away at the keyboard, continuing her search for any information at all on a red scarab beetle, and failing miserably. Even the British Museum couldn't provide anything of relevance. At the moment, it was looking like a lost cause. Sir Topham had been in his office all morning contacting several people in England and Debra had been doing her best to bring a smile to Jeanie's face. Her latest suggestion was to send Jeanie to the café to get a couple of doughnuts for them to have with a cup of tea, and so Jeanie, with a weary _"Okay"_, got up and left.

As she walked along the platform outside, she could see James inside Edward's cab, seemingly talking to himself, but she knew full well that there was in fact a two-way conversation going on between them, only, she couldn't hear Edward's side of it. Any sign of her returning cheerfulness fled her as her stomach tightened with misery, and she quickened her pace. _Maybe I should just hand my notice in,_ she thought, _but Thomas said that Lady knew I can help her. I just don't know how. Why can't I hear Edward when I could hear Lady? This is horrible! I wish I wasn't here!_

On entering the café, she saw Thomas sitting at a table talking with Henry. Sitting with them were a young boy that she knew to be a former truck, and Percy.

_"...and then I was thrown out of the cab and crushed. It was a nightmare, I tell you!"_ she heard Thomas say as she passed them to go to the counter.

_"I dreamed I was a groundskeeper in a large park,"_ said Henry. _"I was chasing a poacher and the bastard shot me. I was going to ask you all when you woke up this morning if you'd had any strange dreams, but forgot to say anything when I had that strong urge to release water."_

_"I can't remember my dream,"_ moaned Percy.

_"I can,"_ said the young boy.

_"What did you dream of, young Tim?"_ asked Henry.

_"I dreamed I was in a tunnel with lots of other boys of my age. There were nasty men there as well, and they made me and the other boys pull coal wagons along the tracks all the way out of the tunnel."_

_"That doesn't sound like a nice dream,"_ said Thomas. _"What happened then?"_

_"We had to pull an empty wagon back into the tunnel all the way to where the men were digging coal. Then we had to put all the coal into the wagon and then pull the wagon out of the tunnel again. We had to do that all day long. When the men finished digging for the day, we went out with them and had something to eat and some water before going to sleep in a shed."_

_"Dear me,"_ said Henry. _"Didn't you have a home to go to?"_

_"No,"_ said Tim. _"My mammy died when I was small."_

_"What about your father? Couldn't you live with him?"_

_"I didn't know who my father was,"_ replied Tim, as a tear started running down his cheek. _"I think he was a soldier in the army. I remember my mammy crying one day and when I asked her why she was sad, she told me that he'd been killed in the trenches, whatever they were."_

_"And this was in your dream?"_ Thomas asked him.

_"No,"_ said Tim. _"It's something I've always known."_

_"I don't understand,"_ said Percy. _"How could it be something you've always known. You've always been a truck. Bah, you must have dreamt it."_

_"No,"_ said Tim again, this time shaking his head in denial. _"I know what was in my dream!"_ he said stubbornly.

_"Was there anything else in your dream?"_ asked Henry.

_"I tripped over the rail one day and the wagon rolled back over me and cut my legs off."_

_"Why can't I remember MY dream?"_ snapped Percy.

Jeanie was horrified at what she was overhearing, but despite knowing what she had seen on the old film reels the previous evening, she refused to finish the line of thought that she had started. _That_ would have been too much for her right now. No, it was only the one instance that she was aware of, and that was when the magical engine, Lady, had been created. It was _her_ that allowed the engines and trucks to be sentient, surely?"

A tuneful melody being hummed from the table next to her caught her attention and, turning to her right, Jeanie said, _"That's nice, Daisy. Where did you learn that from?"_

_"I'm not sure," _the dark-haired woman said._ "I just seem to know it. Maybe I heard it on the radio yesterday." _

She then bit into the custard slice she was holding, making an appreciative sigh at the sweetness of the icing as bits of the yellow custard stuck to her lips. _"I should stop eating these. I have to look after my curves now I'm like this."_

_"Don't you mean swerves, Daisy?"_ said Jeanie, smiling at the former railcar.

_"Yes, yes! Swerves, curves, they're all the same now, aren't they?"_ Daisy quite cynically replied.

_"What do you mean?"_ Jeanie asked her.

_"I used to enjoy trundling along the track and taking people to where they wanted to go, but now, what can I do? I can't do anything but get into some sort of trouble!"_ Daisy then dropped the remains of the custard slice onto the table and started sobbing, and Jeanie rushed to sit next to her, wrapping her arms around the crying woman's quaking shoulders.

_"What's brought all this on, Daisy?"_

_"I-I get m-m-myself lost and-and-and ill after drinking that horrible stuff, and then that man attacked me, and now HE won't even l-l-look at me!"_

_"Who won't look at you, Daisy? Your attacker?"_

_"No! D-d-diesel Ten,"_ stammered Daisy. _"He-he rescued me from that m-m-man and...and now he har-hardly speaks to me. I'm s-s-so lonely, Jeanie. I don't want to b-b-be like this! W-will YOU be my friend, Jeanie?"_

Over at the other table, Henry, on hearing the former railcar becoming upset, got up to go over and see what was going on, but Thomas stopped him.

_"No, Henry, leave it to Jeanie to sort out. She's rather upset since this morning, and doesn't realise yet just how much we need her here. Lady needs her for something, and by helping Daisy, it may just give her the confidence and belief in herself she needs. If anyone knows what it's like to be a real person, she does. Any of the other railway workers, even Sir Topham, will only say that we should pull ourselves together and get on with the job, but Jeanie, I think she's different. She takes the time to talk with us and to explain things that we need to know. _

_"Our drivers and firemen have helped us with some things, but they're not like her. They only see helping us as part of their job. She," _Thomas emphasised by gesturing at Jeanie with his thumb,_ "can't help it. It's how she is as a person, willing to help other people, after all, she was quite helpful with Toby, Henrietta and Burnett Stone after they crashed."_

_"Maybe you're right,"_ said Henry, sitting himself back down.

"_Why do women always cry?"_ asked Percy, sounding quite bitter.

Thomas just glared at his best friend. He couldn't understand what had come over him since their recent transformation. He'd turned from being cheerful, cheeky and somewhat nervous to snarky and resentful. He'd have to have a chat with him when they were alone to make sure that everything was all right with him, after all, that's what friends were for.

Just then, Sir Topham came into the café, stepping just inside and watching Jeanie and Daisy as they whispered together. Nodding slowly, he then turned to the three former trains and said, _"Thomas, I've got a special job for you, Edward and...I think, yes, James."_

_"What is it, Sir?"_ asked Thomas eagerly.

_"When Jeanie has finished talking with Daisy over there, tell her I would like to see her and you in my office. I'll tell you all then."_

_"Yes, Sir Topham, Sir, I will,"_ said Thomas.

With that, Sir Topham turned and left the café, walking over to where Edward was parked.

_"I wonder what he wants us to do?"_ said Thomas.

_"Why doesn't he want me to help?"_ asked Percy.

_"I don't know,"_ replied Thomas. _"Maybe it's something that James can do that you can't."_

Percy harrumphed grumpily and, frowning, sat back, folding his arms tightly across his chest. Thomas looked worriedly at him, thinking that he could have said what he did in a way that wouldn't have offended his best friend. _Yes,_ he thought to himself, _there's definitely something wrong with Percy._

ooo

Diesel 10 was silent as Splatter and Dodge furiously propelled the pump trolley, counting upwards as their speed increased. He tightened his grip on the central fulcrum just in case, knowing his two minions, something went horribly wrong and they derailed.

_"...Thirty-eight...thirty-nine...FORTY!...Forty miles...an hour!...We...did it!"_

Four real people wouldn't be able to get the trolley to move as fast as that, Diesel 10 knew, but the two former diesel shunters had managed it. It seemed that when they had all transformed into people, their relative engine-strength had stayed with them as though to make up for their missing metalwork. He didn't have a clue as to why or how, only that it was something to do with the railway magic. Maybe Sir Topham could tell him. There was a lot Diesel 10 didn't know right then, and it bothered him. He didn't know why Tiberius had told him to wash Lady's coal with the river water, only that it was a necessary part in his grand plan, and he didn't know why the blue engine he'd met that morning wanted to kill Sir Topham, but the little that Tiberius _had_ said to him at their meeting cheered him up. The future of the other diesels was guaranteed once Sir Topham gave in to Tiberius' demand for his share of the Sodor Railways, or was dealt with by Tyrone should he refuse. Either way, Tiberius would gain authority over the former trains once his true relationship with Sir Topham was known, and, according to what he had said, set about returning them to their former state.

Suddenly feeling exhilarated by both the speed they were travelling at and the knowledge that the steamies would soon be leaving Sodor, Diesel 10 smiled.

_"What do...you think...Boss?...Forty miles...an hour!"_ puffed Dodge.

_"What I think, you pair of idiots, is that you can go FASTER!"_

_"Right, Boss,"_ puffed Splatter. _"Come on...Dodge...Forty-one...Forty-two..."_

Soon, they were approaching Knapford, and Diesel 10's smile started to falter. He'd carried out Tiberius' instructions, but the former BR Class 42 had never been a minion for someone else before, someone other than Sir Topham that is, but _that_ was ingrained into him, and it wasn't a nice feeling to be ordered about by someone else. Did he actually trust Tiberius to keep his word? It was only the warning that if he didn't go along with the man's plan then Tiberius would tell Sir Topham that it was the former diesel's idea that Lady suffer her misfortune, and then he'll be sent away for good or, even worse, be melted down in the scrap works for being a really bad engine.

ooo

Jeanie stepped out of the washroom feeling slightly better for having rinsed her face. Sir Topham wanted to see her along with Thomas and James. Feeling that it didn't really matter that much as she was strongly inclined to hand in her notice, she entered the traffic office and, despite her nervousness at what she may or may not end up doing, smiled at Debra.

_"Sir Topham wants to see me?"_ she said.

_"Yes, Jeanie,"_ replied Debra_. "You can go on in."_

Jeanie gave a gentle knock on the door before she opened it and stepped inside. She saw that both Thomas and James were already there, standing in front of Sir Topham's desk.

_"You wanted to see me, Sir Topham,"_ she said, and, summoning up her courage, added, _"which is good, as I would like to see you. I'm...I'm not really sure I'm cut out for all of this."_

Looking directly at Sir Topham, Jeanie saw him raise his eyebrows in surprise, at the same time hearing Thomas clear his throat as though he was about to say something.

_"In a moment, Thomas,"_ Sir Topham said, not even looking at the blue-coated former tank engine as he spoke. _"Jeanie," _he continued,_ "I'd like you to hear me out before you say anything else. All I've heard from Debra and the rest of the staff here is nothing but praise for what you've been doing. Even the, er, former engines have been telling me how much better they feel after talking with you, so I don't know why you think you can't do this."_

_"I...I'm sorry, Sir Topham, it-it's because of Edward. When I couldn't hear him speak to me this morning, I...I felt as though I don't belong here. I don't know why you offered me this job in the first place!"_

_"That, I admit, Jeanie, was a spur of the moment thing. At the time, I had an island full of trains that had been transformed somehow into people, and I didn't know how I'd be able to deal with them. It was Peregrine who suggested I employ you, and, as it turned out, Lady apparently agreed with him, as you yourself experienced, she believes that you can help her. Don't worry about not hearing Edward this morning. It was probably just the weak railway magic."_

_"Do you think I'll ever hear him, Sir Topham?"_

_"I'll be honest with you, Jeanie, right now, I don't know. In time to come once we've found a way to sort all this out, we'll just have to wait and see. That's all I can say right now."_

Sir Topham had had his suspicions that the young woman standing in front of him was doubting herself, but when he'd seen her comforting Daisy in the café not so long back, he knew that she still had it in her to be really, no, useful wouldn't be the best way to describe her potential, rather, her value to the railways would be a better way of saying it. Yes, she'd be really valuable.

Then he spoke again. _"I've been on the phone since this morning making certain arrangements. Jeanie, how would you like to go to Glastonbury with Thomas and James on Edward to collect some of that healing water from the wells?"_

_"Er... why me?"_ she asked, surprised. The question was a really unexpected. If she had to admit it, she felt rather flattered that she'd been held in such high esteem by everyone, but why would Sir Topham want her to go on a train journey?

_"I've arranged with the shop that sells the healing water to prepare a sizeable quantity of it for me, and I'd prefer to get Edward away from Sodor for a few days just in case something happens to him while he's here. Better safe than sorry, as they say. Anyway, he'll need a driver and fireman for the journey, which both Thomas and James will be able to do as I've given Charlie and Sydney, Edward's usual driver and fireman, some time off after their long trip onto the mainland. I don't think their wives will be that pleased with me if I send them back over there again so soon! I thought that maybe you could be the one to make sure these two don't get into any difficulty when dealing with other people. What do you think?"_

_"Yes, er, yes, I can do that, Sir Topham,"_ said Jeanie. _"When do you want us to go?"_

_"Um, in about two hours time?"_ Sir Topham rather sheepishly asked. _"I have one or two other things to arrange still, and the mechanics are checking Edward over as we speak."_

_"Hang on a moment,"_ said Jeanie._ "How am I going to travel there? There's no carriages left on the island. Am I going to be standing in Edward's cab all the way there and back? I don't know about Thomas and James, but where will I sleep?"_

Sir Topham smiled at her, and said, _"In Toad, the brakevan, of course. He's got a sleeping bunk inside his cabin, and a coal-burning stove for you to keep warm and to, er, cook food."_

_"How much water are we collecting, and will there be any room left in there for me to move about ?"_ Images of herself sitting amidst a cabin full of water barrels flew her mind as she waited for Sir Topham to reply.

_"There'll be an open-top wagon with folding-sides waiting for you at Barrow,"_ he answered,_ "where Edward can also top up on coal and water. From there, you'll travel by main line down to Bristol Parkway and then on to Castle Cary, getting more coal and water at both Gloucester and Bristol on the way. I've just got to arrange for a van to pick up the water from the shop and deliver it to the station where Thomas and James can then tranship it onto the open-top. It'll all be paid for by bank transfer, so you don't have to worry about having to carry lots of cash or my cheque book with you."_

_"Er, Sir Topham?"_ said Thomas, _"Edward is rather old, you know. Will he be able to go that far? I know the kind of distance we're talking about."_

_"I've had a chat with him,"_ said Sir Topham, _"and he feels quite confident about it. I've told him that he mustn't push himself too hard and to just concentrate on taking it easy. The last thing we want is for him to have a breakdown hundreds of miles away from Sodor."_

_"I'll need to get my luggage from your car, Sir Topham,"_ said Jeanie. _"It's still in the boot."_

_"Here,"_ said Sir Topham, reaching into his pocket. _"You'll need these,"_ he added, holding out his car keys. _"While you get your cases, I'll go over the travel schedule with Thomas and James."_

_"Er, Sir Topham, Sir?"_ Thomas asked nervously.

_"Yes, Thomas, I believe you wanted to say something?"_

_"Yes, Sir,"_ said Thomas, looking a bit apprehensive. _"I mean, Sir, er, no disrespect to James, Sir, but, um, why didn't you pick Percy to come with me?"_

_"Because, Thomas,"_ said Sir Topham, _"I believe he needs to take care of that former truck. The, er, boy seems to have formed an attachment to him. He's not like the other trucks, er, boys, and apart from all that, I'd rather not leave Percy and James together or they'd no doubt get into some sort of mischief. Besides, James will cope with it better than Percy, after all, he was a stronger engine before you all changed."_

_"I understand, Sir Topham,"_ said Thomas quietly. _"I'm sorry to have bothered you."_

_"No problem, Thomas, now, both of you, listen carefully. When you get to Barrow,..."_

ooo

Jeanie left to get her luggage feeling quite confused. She'd gone into Sir Topham's office in all likelihood of resigning her job, and left it after agreeing to travel all the way to Glastonbury and back. She wasn't sure how she felt about that just then. Disappointed? No, not really. Rushed? No. Anxious? Definitely! Was this what Lady meant by being able to help her? She'd have to wait and see. One thing was for certain, though, and that that she'd better phone her sister and let her know about this other change of plans!

ooo

Sir Topham didn't finish making the rest of his calls until half past two that afternoon, and it was just after quarter to four when the mechanics finally told him that they were happy enough for Edward to leave. After loading up Toad the brakevan with three sleeping bags and enough food and water from the station's café to last them all for three days, Edward, Thomas, James and Jeanie left Knapford Station to do their bit in saving Lady and the railway magic. Sir Topham had given Jeanie a hundred pounds in case of emergencies and wished them all the best of luck.

ooo

Diesel 10 was sitting in the café with Splatter, who was quite pleased at having out-witted his friend, Dodge, for once. They were both working their way through a plate each of mashed potato, sliced beef and vegetables, which was quite tasty considering they'd never eaten anything like that before, when the sound of Edward puffing out of the station and peep-peeping a farewell filled the otherwise quiet station. Diesel 10 got up to find out what was going on, but when he stepped out onto the platform, he was met by Sir Topham.

_"Ah,"_ said the railway owner, _"just the one I wanted to see. Come with me to my office, please, Diesel Ten. I want a word with you!"_

_"Yes, Sir Topham,"_ he replied, and followed behind, wondering what he wanted to see him about and hoping it wasn't what he feared.

Once inside his office, Sir Topham sat down behind his desk and looked up at Diesel 10, frowning. _"I've been hearing bad things about you," _he said._ "Would you care to explain yourself?"_

_"Er, what do you mean, Sir Topham? What bad things?" Surely,_ the tall, former diesel thought to himself, _if he knew I was the cause of his precious Lady losing her magic, he'd be angrier than this?_

_"This business of soaking Thomas and Percy with muddy water. I hear it's been going on for quite some time now. You've behaved yourself returning to Sodor after your last bit of trouble here, and, right now, the future of the magical railways is at stake. I don't want anything making things any worse than what they are, do you understand? What's brought on this bit of mischief?"_

_"Well, I, um, only soaked Percy the one time, Sir Topham."_ Diesel 10 couldn't deny anything as what railway magic still existed within him compelled him to speak truthfully with his owner.

_"Yes, but you've been soaking Thomas for several weeks, now, haven't you?"_

_"Er, yes, Sir Topham. That's, er, about right, and they don't know their place,"_ Diesel 10 tried to explain. _"They break down all the time and they're always playing tricks on us diesels and-" _

_"I've known a few diesels to break down in my time,"_ retorted Sir Topham, _"so that's no excuse, is it?"_

_"No, Sir Topham."_ That, Diesel 10 had to admit, even to himself, was quite true.

_"Look,"_ said Sir Topham, _"I know about your feelings against the steamies, but I will not be getting rid of any of them. Look at it this way, if it wasn't for inventing steamies in the first place, there wouldn't be any diesels on the railways today. Every form of locomotive has had its part in shaping the railways into what they are. Every train has its place in the grand scheme of things._ _You and the steamies will work together from now on without any complaints, and you are to apologise to Percy, and also to Thomas when he returns, for drenching them both with that mud. I want this antagonising of the steamies to stop right now, do you hear me, Diesel Ten? There's no need for it."_

_"Yes, Sir Topham. I'll stop it,"_ said Diesel 10, _seeing as there's no longer any need to carry that stinking river water about, _ he added as an afterthought.

_"I want you diesels and the steamies to work together, especially now, as all your futures may depend on it." _

_"Yes, Sir Topham. I'm quite concerned about my future, as, I'm sure, are the other engines as well."_

_"Good,"_ said Sir Topham. _"Now, go back to your meal. Get the cook to warm it up for you if it's gone too cold, and don't forget that you and the other diesels can stay over at one of the campsites. It would be much comfortable for you than sleeping in the diesel shed."_

_"We'll be fine staying here, Sir Topham. Thank you, though there is one thing I'd like to ask you. Why was Edward saying goodbye just now?" _

_"He, Thomas, James and Jeanie have left on a mission to help save Lady."_

_"I...see,"_ said Diesel 10. _Curse those stinky steamies! _

_"By the way, whatever gave you the idea to carry that muddy water around?"_

_"I was tol-"_ despite his best effort not to, Diesel 10 found himself about to admit to following Tiberius' orders, when a loud BANG and the sound of breaking glass from outside suddenly drew their attention to the window overlooking the street behind the office.

Sir Topham quickly got up to see what had happened and, to his horror, saw that a three-wheeler electric milk float had crashed only a few yards away from his car and was now laying on its side, and two grey-clad teenage boys lay unconscious next to the crashed vehicle. Recognising the boys as former troublesome trucks, he turned and started to rush out of his office.

_"Come with me, Diesel Ten,"_ he commanded._ "I may need your help!"_

Relieved at not having given away his secret, but still annoyed that there were plans afoot to save Lady, Diesel 10 followed Sir Topham to the station exit.

ooo

Toad was a GWR Standard 20-ton brakevan who usually worked with Oliver, but, fortunately for him, he had been assigned to go with Edward to the mainland before that disastrous event had befallen upon the other trains. He had a cabin that people could travel in, and a veranda that they could stand on to watch the scenery as they passed by. Edward had asked him to keep an eye on Jeanie while they travelled to make sure she was all right and didn't need them for anything. He had tried speaking to her, having been told by the blue engine that she worked for Sir Topham and, naturally assumed that she could talk back to him, but she hadn't been able to hear anything he said to her, and had given up. Still, he did have the other three he could talk to if he wanted.

It wasn't long after they'd left Knapford that Jeanie had begun to feel the enormity of the task ahead of her. Not the importance of it, no, rather, it was the time she'd be spending inside the brakevan without anyone to talk to that bothered her. Both Thomas and James would need to be with Edward, and all she had to keep her company were two paperbacks, the maps that Sir Topham had given her, and the old kettle on top of the coal-burner. It would be getting dark before long, she noticed, and, after a couple of fumbled attempts to light the paraffin lamp, finally managed to get the wick alight. Her sleeping bag was spread out on top of the pull-down bunk attached to one side of the cabin, leaving just enough space for Thomas and James to stretch out on the floor in their own sleeping bags.

She pondered over the fact that she'd be sharing sleeping arrangements with two men, or, rather, former engines that may as well be strangers to her, having only met them the previous day. Going by her original plan before being flagged down by Toby that fateful morning, she was supposed to spending today with her sister, planning a few trips here and there to buy some things for Christmas, not setting off on a journey to the south of England with some transformed steam engines that could talk to each other, which was what her fellow travellers were no doubt doing right now as they rode on Edward's footplate. _Wonder what that's like,_ she mused. _I'll ask them tomorrow if they'll let me have a go. _Still, going shopping after she gets her first pay cheque from Sir Topham Hatt should more than make up for what she's going through right now, she decided.

She amused herself by thinking what else she could do to celebrate her new-found financial security, if she decided to stick at this job. Maybe she could buy some new clothes, a more reliable car, even. Shaking her head at the absurdity of it all, as, if they were successful and actually managed to save lady and her magic, which meant that all the former trains would become, well, trains again, she might find herself out of a job after all was said and done. Sighing deeply, she decided that with it being a cold day, she may as well light the brakevan's small, cast iron stove. She wasn't feeling hungry just yet, so making some food for herself could wait until later. Maybe there'd be a café in Barrow she could nip in to for something. _May as well make myself a cup of tea, though,_ she thought to herself as she looked at the coal-burner, _but I've got to light THAT thing first. _

James had given her instructions on how to light the stove when they were stocking up the food cupboard, and on the floor next to the stove was a bucket of coal, some pieces of wood and kindling, together with some old newspapers and a packet of fire-lighters to help it catch alight. Ten minutes later, with a nice fire burning, Jeanie smiled as she began to feel the air in the cabin getting warmer, though she'd have to watch out for the stove's hot flue pipe that went up through the roof of the van lest she burn herself if she touched it by accident. She topped up the kettle from a small water drum and put it on top of the stove to boil. Sitting back down on the bunk, she picked up one of her paperbacks and leant back to wait for the kettle to boil.

_"This isn't so bad after all,"_ said James, as he scooped up some more coal from the tender's shovel plate. The heat from Edward's firebox was lovely compared to the biting wind that had started to pick up.

_"Yes,"_ said Thomas, adjusting Edward's regulator. _"Ooh, there's some people on the bridge ahead of us. Let's say 'Hello' to them."_

Reaching up and pulling the blue engine's whistle cord, he gave it a couple of tugs.

_"PEEP-PEEP!"_ went Edward's whistle, and Thomas leant out of the cab to wave at the children as the engine passed under the bridge. He felt a strange sense of familiarity as he did that, and he shuddered, but passed it off as a just being a memory from when he'd been an engine himself only two days ago.

About an hour and a half later, they were nearing Barrow, and Thomas slowed Edward's speed in readiness to go across the rolling lift bridge that would allow them to cross over the Walney Channel and onto the mainland. The bridge was basically a long section that could be raised to allow sea-going vessels to pass through a gap, and then be lowered again for traffic to use. Soon after, they entered the marshalling yard at Barrow Docks. Thomas climbed down to go and look for the foreman who would tell him where the wagon they were to collect was, and James told Edward he was going to check on Jeanie.

As he entered the cabin, James was amused to see the young woman curled up on top of her sleeping bag, gently snoring. _Thomas will chuckle when I tell him this,_ he thought to himself, and quietly stepped back out and closed the door.

Ten minutes later, after having shunted Toad onto a siding in order to couple the wagon behind Edward's tender, they were ready to go. Jeanie was that tired she slept through all the noise and bumping, and Thomas, after telling James that he doubted she snored as loud as Merrick, decided to leave her sleep until they reached Crewe, where they could all have something to eat.

Thomas and James had agreed to swap their roles during the journey, and so now James had the chance to drive Edward, once he'd cleaned the coal dust from his red coat, that was. He'd found out that being a fireman made even _him_ sweat!

_"How do you feel, Edward?"_ asked Thomas as he shovelled some coal into the engine's firebox.

_**~I feel good,~**_ the engine replied. _**~As long as we don't go faster than we have been, I should manage just fine.~**_

Bearing in mind the importance of what they were doing, Sir Topham had told them not to exceed fifty miles an hour in case it put too much of a strain on the old engine. Judging by the speed they'd be travelling at, Thomas reckoned it would be another hour before they reached Preston, and then another two hours to get to Crewe, where Edward could rest for a spell while they ate.

James got them out of Barrow without any mishaps and, soon, they were on their way. The light from the lantern on Edwards front buffer beam reflected off the twin-rails in front of him, and the only other things he and Thomas could see were some distant town lights as they passed through the countryside. Earlier, it had been Thomas who had enjoyed seeing the rolling fields and distant hills and mountains of Sodor, as James had only glimpsed the scenery whilst taking a few minutes respite from shovelling coal, wishing that he was driving instead. Now that he was actually driving, he felt quite disgruntled that he was driving during the dark evening. _Never mind,_ he thought to himself, _there'll be plenty of time to see the scenery tomorrow during the daytime!_

For James, the station at Crewe was a sight to behold. It was much bigger than Knapford, and the only place they could stay for a rest, according to the stationmaster, was on one of the lines not being used by any of the evening trains, so, after shunting back and forth several times, they finally came to a stop alongside one of the unused platforms. Thomas and James stepped down from Edward's cab and went over to join Jeanie inside Toad. Jeanie had woken up by then and, sleepily, asked where they were.

_"Crewe,"_ said Thomas, _"and time to eat. I hope you're ready for some food, Jeanie, because I'm feeling a bit empty right now."_

_"Oh, yes,"_ she yawned, _"so am I, and I suppose I'll have to cook it, yeah?"_

_"Well,"_ said James, gesturing to Thomas and himself, _"it's not something we've have to do before."_

_"I suppose not,"_ said Jeanie, who decided that something simple yet filling would do for now. _"I'll warm up the beans, and you, James, can make the toast!"_

_"How do I do that?"_ he asked, looking confused.

Jeanie opened one of the storage cupboards and took out a loaf of sliced bread and a long fork from off a hook just inside the door. _"Take these,"_ she said, _"stick a slice onto the fork and hold it near the fire in the stove until it starts to turn brown, then turn the slice round and do the same thing again until that's brown as well. Watch it doesn't go too dark or it'll start to burn!"_

_"Can I use Edward's firebox?"_ asked James. _"I can keep him company, then."_

_"Of course you can,"_ said Jeanie, _"but stay talking for too long or the toast will get cold."_

James took the bread and fork from Jeanie and left the cabin. Thomas, meanwhile, was studying the maps.

_"We seem to be making good time,"_ he said. _"If we stay here for an hour for Edward to get his puff back, we should reach Gloucester in about six hours. We'll stay there overnight, top up his coal and water in the morning, and set off again at seven o'clock."_

_"That's good, but try not to wake me when you get up,"_ said Jeanie. _"Once these beans are warm, I'll make us a cup of tea each. I can only do one thing at a time on this stove."_

Just then, they both heard a loud, deep rumbling, and Thomas quickly went over to the cabin's side window to look out. _"Ooh,"_ he said. _"Look at this, Jeanie!"_

Jeanie leant over to peer outside and saw an oil train passing by very quickly through the station.

_"Wow!"_ exclaimed James. _"How fast do you reckon he's going, Edward?"_

_**~He must be doing at least eighty miles an hour,~**_ Edward replied.

_"I wish Boco could see it,"_ said James. _"We don't have anything like that on Sodor."_

_**~And look how long it is. I think even Gordon would struggle with something THAT long!~**_

_"Please don't tell him that. Oops!"_ said James, quickly stamping on a slice of bread that had caught alight, _"or you'll really upset him."_

_**~I won't,~**_ said Edward, chuckling. _**~I DO know how to keep the peace, you know!~**_

After James had returned with the toast and their meals prepared, eaten, and everything readied to set off again, Jeanie settled down with her paperback. It would be a long night for her if she stayed up too long, and so she decided to snuggle inside the bag so that she could just put the book down on the floor if she felt like falling asleep. Meanwhile, James took over as fireman and soon got Edward's firebox roaring again.

The long trek to Gloucester was uneventful, and Jeanie was woken up by a loud rumbling that turned out to be Edward's tender being topped up with coal.

_"Are we there yet?"_ she called to Thomas as she leant over the safety rail of the brakevan's veranda to se what was going on.

_"Not yet,"_ he replied. "_We've still got five more hours of travelling to do."_

_"Oh,"_ said Jeanie quietly, looking rather put out. _"Er, Thomas?"_ she then called. _"Do you think I could, er, stand in Edward's cab with you tomorrow? It's rather boring being stuck in here all the time."_

_"Well, I'd rather you do that once we've passed Bristol. We're going to be travelling on some busy lines tomorrow and I'd rather not risk anything."_

Seeing the look of disappointment that appeared on her face, he tried to think of something that would cheer her up. _"I'll tell you what,"_ he said, _"if you can wait till then, maybe you could have a go at driving Edward. I'm sure he won't mind."_

Hearing that more than made up for any boredom Jeanie felt. The chance to actually drive a steam train! Just wait till she tells her sister about THAT!

_"Ooh, thank you, Thomas! I can't wait!"_ she squealed.

News of the old blue steam engine on its long trek to the south of England had jumped from station to station, and, as the morning progressed, it seemed that more and more people had heard about it as, every so often, Thomas, James, and even Jeanie found themselves waving to people anxious to see them. Photographs were taking from trainspotters standing alongside the track and on bridges. There were scheduled journeys throughout the year being made by several steam locomotives, but the one being made by the old Sharp, Stewart and Co. "Larger Seagull" wasn't one of them, and train enthusiasts were quickly spreading the word.

Thomas was loving it. He was driving Edward and so had plenty of opportunity to wave back at people, and to blow Edward's whistle as they passed under bridges and through stations. James had his turn after they'd reached Bristol Parkway and topped up Edward's coal and water again, after making sure that his red coat was free of coal dust and sparkling clean for the people with cameras, of course.

The blue engine was having the time of his life. His pistons were pumping perfectly, his wheels were whizzing wonderfully, and his valve gear was visibly vibrant. He'd NEVER had this much fuss made over him when he worked on Sodor, and it really gave him the drive to see their task through to the end. The only problem he had, though, was the occasional twinge he felt in his left-side coupling rod. It didn't happen often, but, every once in a while, it did happen. Knowing how important this journey they were making was to Sir Topham in his endeavour to save Lady and her magic, he didn't want to say anything that would cause any problems, so he decided to carry on as best he could. He knew they were making good time, as Thomas had said so, and Thomas always made the right decisions, so, Edward made a decision for himself. He would carry on and not delay them in any way. The sooner they collected the water, the less chance there would be of anything going wrong and, once they got back, he would ask one of the mechanics at Tidmouth Sheds to have a look at it.

Jeanie, though, felt rather awkward waving at people, after all, they didn't have a clue who she was, not that she was important in anyway, but she felt that it was Edward, Thomas and James that deserved it more than her, so she spent most of the time just plotting their journey as they travelled along. Later, whilst looking out of the propped-open door that led out onto the brakevan's veranda, staring at the countryside they were leaving behind, the fields, cottages and trees lining the track all shrinking in size as they sped past, and as the regular, hypnotic, clickity-clacking of the brakevan's wheels as they passed over the rails' narrow expansion gaps lulled her into a sleepy state, she noticed that they were slowing down. _That's strange, _she thought. _There's no station ahead for a while yet, and we've miles to go before we reach Castle Cary! _

Then she heard the sound of heavy footsteps on the trackside ballast, and then the clump-clump of someone climbing up onto the van's veranda. The door opened and Thomas poked his head in.

_"It's time for your driving lesson, Miss Jeanie,"_ he said, smiling at her.

_"Jeanie,"_ said Thomas, _"your clothes may get a bit dirty in here, as James isn't too fussy about where he shovels all that coal."_

_"Hey,"_ exclaimed James. _"I'm doing my best!"_

Thomas chuckled at his friend's disgruntled look, and said, _"Practice makes perfect, James!"_ Turning back face to Jeanie, he said, _"First of all, I'll just show you the simple things. This lever down by here is the reverser. It's for going forwards or backwards, and it moves like this... for forward, and this... for backwards, yes?"_

_"Yes, forwards or backwards."_

_"Right. Now, it uses a lot of steam when you start going, so, as you speed up, slowly reduce it like this..., yes?"_

_"Yes, lots, then less."_

_"That's right,"_ said Thomas, then, pointing to a long red lever in, to Jeanie's eyes, the centre of a mass of iron and glass confusion, he said, _"this is Edward's regulator. It's what makes him go faster, as well as James shovelling in more coal to maintain the heat. It lets the steam from Edward's boiler pass through to his cylinders which drive his pistons. Have you got that, Jeanie?"_

_"Yes,"_ said Jeanie. _"It's like what the throttle pedal of my car does."_

_"If you say so,"_ said Thomas, having no idea how to drive a car. _"You open it like this..., and close it like this... See?"_

_"Yes, I see. Left, open, right, close," _Jeanie confirmed.

Whilst Thomas was showing her how to operate the two levers, she could hear lots of steam hissing, but the engine wasn't moving. She queried Thomas on this.

_"It's because the train brakes are still on. We've only got the two wagons to pull, so we're only needing the train brakes right now. When you want to move, open the brakes like this..., wait until this pressure gauge reaches here..., then close the brake lever slightly like this... Got it?"_

_"Yes. Open, check pressure gauge, close slightly."_

_"Good. You don't need to open the cylinders cocks as Edward hasn't been idle that long, and I'll take care of anything else that needs to be done, so if you see me doing anything, don't worry about it, okay? So, Jeanie, are you ready to drive Edward?"_

_"Yes, I think so. Ooh, I'm nervous! What do I do first?"_

James snickered to himself and Jeanie playfully slapped him on his shoulder. _"Shut up, you, and get back to your shovelling!"_

Thomas laughed at Jeanie's put-down of his friend, and said, chuckling, _"She certainly put YOU in your place there, James!"_

James grinned back and, well, went back to his shovelling.

Turning back to Jeanie, Thomas said, _"Brakes, pressure gauge, reverser, regulator," _pointing to each of the instruments in turn as he listed them.

_"Brakes, pressure gauge, reverser, regulator,"_ repeated Jeanie, copying his actions. _"Got you."_

Gingerly, she reached to the short lever down by her waist and moved it completely over to the right, hearing a loud hiss of steam and looked up to the pressure gauge, waiting as the needle slowly crawled its way along the dial until it reached twenty-one and stayed there, then she moved the small lever back to the left just slightly. _"Is that enough?"_ she asked Thomas.

_"Just a small bit more,"_ he told her, and watched as she carefully moved it a bit further. _"That's fine, Jeanie,"_ he said. _"Now the reverser. First, wind it all the way for forwards... then open the regulator halfway... "_

Jeanie reached towards the long, red lever in front of her, glancing sideways at Thomas as she did so. He nodded his approval and smiled as Jeanie reached up to make a two-handed grip on the lever before pulling it over to the left, grunting rather loudly at the same time. James, meanwhile, shovelled more coal into the firebox, with a smirk on his face.

_"It's not THAT stiff, Jeanie,"_ he said, still grinning.

_"Maybe not for YOU,"_ she replied, glaring at him, _"but it is for me! Ooh! We're moving! Thomas! What do I do next?"_

_"When the speed gauge here shows ten miles per hour, wind the reverser back almost halfway."_

_"This one here?"_

_"Yes. I'll say when to stop... good, now we're moving a bit faster, wind it back a bit more to about fifteen to twenty per cent. Don't worry, I'll tell you when it's enough."_

Jeanie looked to the speed gauge and watched as the needle slowly crept up to ten miles an hour, then she started winding back the reverser.

_"That's enough... well done, Jeanie,"_ said Thomas_. "Now, keep watching your speed."_

Jeanie grinned as the needle slowly crept past the number ten.

_"Okay,"_ said Thomas after a few moments, _"now the reverser again."_

Jeanie did so, stopping when Thomas told her, and then looked expectantly at her instructor.

_"You want to go faster?"_ he asked.

_"Ooh, yes, please,"_ she said.

_"Okay. Move the regulator over a bit more, not too much or there'll be too much steam going through and Edward's wheels may start slipping."_

_"Oh, what does that mean?"_

_"Well, Edward's wheels will lose grip on the rails as they turn without gripping, and it could cause damage either him or the track if they spin too fast."_

_"Oh,"_ said Jeanie, frowning. _"You will say if I move it too much, will you?"_

_"Yes, I will, but better you know what could happen before it does."_

_"Okay, just a bit then,"_ and Jeanie took up her two-handed grip again and slid the red lever over a bit more to the left.

_"That's okay for now,"_ said Thomas, and Jeanie not only heard Edward puffing louder, but felt an increase in the engine's speed. Glancing outside, she saw the ground alongside the track passing by that much faster. She could also feel her heart beating faster as well. This WAS exciting.

_"How's she doing, Edward?"_ she heard Thomas say, and watched him stare into space as, she assumed, he listened to Edward reply to him, then both he and James started laughing loudly.

Indignantly, she asked Thomas, _"What did he say about me?"_

When they'd stopped laughing, James said, _"he said that Sir Topham will be pleased he's got a replacement for Charlie Sands, Edward's usual driver."_

_"Well,"_ said Thomas, pointing to a few lumps of coal strewn about the floor of Edwards' cab, _"Sydney Hever's got no fear of losing his fireman job, has he?"_

_"Ooh,"_ said James, _"you just wait, Thomas! I'll get my own back on you!"_

_"Oh, look,"_ said Thomas excitedly. _"There's a bridge ahead. Jeanie, grab that cord up there and give it a short and then a long tug, will you?"_

_"Umm, okay,"_ she said, and reached up, wondering what it did.

The old man and three young boys standing on the bridge all jumped in surprise as the blue steam engine passed below them with a loud _"Peep-PEEEEEEEEEEEP!"_

As the morning progressed and Jeanie learned more of the intricacies of driving a steam train, the overhead clouds gathered promising rain, but as mid-day neared, they dispersed lust enough to let the sun shine down upon the small railway station that serviced the village of Castle Cary, the nearest Edward could get to Glastonbury.

To get to the station, they had to come off the main line to where the station building was on their right, and stopping on a short length of track just before some overhanging trees so that he left enough room for any service trains that day to pull in.

Safely parked, Thomas, James and Jeanie stepped down to the ground to stretch their legs after standing for so long. As they did that, the stationmaster walked over, a middle-aged man with spectacles and curly brown hair.

_"Hello there!"_ he called over. _"I've been expecting you. I must say, you're pretty much on time as well. If this is how Sir Topham Hatt runs his railway, then it's certainly a good one."_

_"Thank you, Sir,"_ said Thomas, feeling rather proud with the compliment. _"We've come to collect some water barrels."_

_"Yes, so I was told,"_ said the stationmaster. _"Unfortunately, they haven't turned up yet. I was expecting them to have been here by now."_

The trio's face all showed signs of surprise and disappointment. _"What do we do now, Jeanie?"_ Thomas asked. _"What do you think has gone wrong?"_

_"I don't know, Thomas,"_ she replied. _"I'd better phone Sir Topham to find out. Er, excuse me, sir,"_ she said, turning to look at the stationmaster, _"but...er, could I borrow your phone, please? I need to contact Sir Topham about this."_

ooo

Sir Topham put down the phone after calling Jeanie back. _Damn,_ he thought. _That van driver phoning in sick is a bit of a snag. I hope she can find some other transport or they'll have gone all that way for nothing. Still, it's not all bad news I've had so far._

Lawrence Harrington had reported earlier that Gordon seems to have recovered well after his collapse yesterday, and was currently being brought back to Knapford in the small service truck that belonged to the repair works. The two former trucks that had somehow stolen a milk float were now in the repair work's first aid room. Sir Topham had explained to the police, feeling somewhat guilty as he did so when they'd turned up at the scene, that whoever had stolen it had probably run away.

Picking up his pen to start making a few notes, he was startled when he heard a commotion in the outer office and then his office door opening to reveal a tall, grey-haired man dressed in a smart business suit. Debra was standing behind him looking quite flustered. _"I'm sorry, Sir Topham,"_ she gasped, _"but I couldn't stop him!"_

_"Who are you, sir?"_ demanded Sir Topham, standing up and, even after that, having to raise his head to look the man in the eye. _"What do you think you're doing by barging into my office like this?"_

The man, ignoring the questions, calmly stepped forward and seated himself down in the chair in front of his desk, crossed his leg and folded his arms across his chest.

_"Hello, Stephen,"_ he said politely. _"I'm Tiberius Hatt, you're half-brother, and I want you to give me ownership and control of Sodor Railways. If you don't, your...former engines will all be dead in a week!"_

ooOOoo


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16 

_"This...this is preposterous!"_ said Sir Topham. _"Now, who are you and want do you want here? Be quick about it or I'll call the police!"_

One of Tiberius' plans to gain control of Sodor Railways was to get a court injunction against Sir Topham until his claim was recognised. The fact that there were no longer any trains on the island would be seen by the court as Sir Topham attempting to avoid his obligations, and he'd find himself in trouble with the law. If that didn't look like it would work, he did have other options. With that in mind, he unfolded his arms and reached inside his jacket and withdrew a postcard-sized piece of paper. Leaning over, he dropped it onto Sir Topham's desk. _"Have a look at that, Stephen,"_ he said as he sat back, one hand resting atop the other on his lap.

Sir Topham picked up the paper, no, not paper, a photograph, a rather old and faded, black and white photograph of a stern-looking man standing next to a shorter woman who was holding a young toddler in her arms.

_"Up until yesterday,"_ said Tiberius, _"when I received that from my lawyer, I always believed my father was unaware of me, assuming that the abortion money he gave my mother was used for its intended purpose. But, as you can see, he did know I was alive, which is why it hurts so much, and why I decided to ruin your Sunday. I don't remember much from my childhood, but, apparently, that was the only time my parents ever saw each other after I was born. Look at the child, Stephen, and tell me who you see. I will say, though, that you've never met the woman, seeing as she died a long time ago."_

Sir Topham studied the faces in the picture. At first glance, the boy did look rather familiar to him, the woman was a stranger, thin and ill-looking, but the man... Sir Topham, his mouth open, looked over to the man the other side of his desk, the man who claimed to be his half-brother.

_"Yes, Stephen,"_ the grey-haired man said,_ "it is him,...your father."_

_"There...there's got to be some...some confusion about all this,"_ said Sir Topham. _"I...I mean, he could have just been visiting this woman...she could have just been someone...a friend he knew, maybe? Debra,"_ he then said, looking up at his secretary, _"that'll be all for today. I'll see you tomorrow."_

_"Of course, Sir Topham,"_ she replied, pausing for a moment to look at the stranger before adding, _"er, I couldn't find that thing I was looking for, Sir Topham." _

_"Okay, Debra, I understand. Thank you for giving up your Sunday for me."_

_"It was no problem, Sir Topham. I'll see you tomorrow,"_ and with that she pulled his office door closed and left.

The sound of the outer office door shutting less than a minute later was heard quite plainly in the silence that had descended upon the two men, then Tiberius spoke.

_"That photograph was taken the only time my father and I were ever in the same room together, two years after my mother was forced from her job in the office of Barry Scrap Yard, the place where, as you know, steam engines go to die. Two years after she was forced to go and live back at her parents' tiny terraced house and sleep in the living-room after they'd gone to bed at night. The place where she brought me up to her best ability and told me stories of the man that had promised her the world. _

_"She was more than a friend to him, Stephen. She kept his bed warm those cold night in South Wales after he'd been scouring the scrapyard for the engine he was looking to save. My mother wouldn't tell me his name until I was twenty-one. She died of pneumonia not long after that, too weak to fight off the fever, too weak to breath after coughing her lungs up for what seemed like every couple of minutes for weeks on end. Her lungs were gradually filling up with fluid, she hardly had the strength to spit, Stephen. Her last words to me where to find my father and get him to take me away from the shit-hole of a life I had back then."_

_"If...if any of what you say is true,"_ said Sir Topham, _"then...why wait until now to come forward?"_

_"Ah, but you, see, Stephen, when my mother died, we were almost penniless. Jobs were scarce in those days, and it was only by driving lorries for cash-in-hand that we managed to have any food on the plate. My grandfather had died and it was just me and my grandmother left. Never mind paying the rent for the roof over our heads, I couldn't even afford a half-pint of beer in the local pub. I couldn't afford no fancy lawyers then to do all my legal work, no, not until now, anyway. I borrowed some money from one of the local big-time crooks to buy out the owner of the firm I was driving for, and it's taken me until only a year ago to pay the bastard back what I owed him, the shyster. In fact, Stephen, you actually hired my firm that time your little green engine couldn't cope with its workload, remember? The three lorries that turned out to be a nightmare to work with?"_

_"Oops, sorry, boyo! It looks like I've backed up into the sea!"_ Tiberius added comically, emphasising his strong welsh accent.

_"Tha...that was YOU?"_ said Sir Topham, shock written all over his face. _"But...but, why?"_

_"I was just doing a bit of ...what do they call it, now...yes, fact-finding. I was having a look around to see what sort of set-up you had here. Exploring the lay of the land, so to speak."_

Sir Topham didn't respond as he looked down again at the old photograph.

_"The boy,"_ said Tiberius, _"looks just like you did when you were that young. Check your old family albums. Your, sorry, OUR father was quite proud of you, I have to admit. You won't believe how many families there are in Britain with photographs of their children playing with the scion of the well-respected Hatt family. It was a simple matter for a journalist friend of mine to visit under the pretence of writing an article on the lives of rich and famous. They're so gullible, those folk."_

_"Wha-what did you mean about the engines dying?"_ Sir Topham asked, his face now quite pale.

_"Oh, that?"_ chuckled Tiberius. _"Yeah, that's what'll happen if I don't get what I want. You see, Stephen, I can cure your little "people" problem, if you know what I mean."_

_"WHAT?"_ roared Sir Topham, springing up from his seat. _"YOU...YOU'VE CAUSED ALL THIS JUST TO HAVE THE RAILWAYS? TWO OF THEM HAVE DIED, YOU BASTARD! I DEMAND YOU FIX THIS RIGHT NOW!"_

_"Sorry, Stephen,"_ Tiberius said calmly, brushing a bit of lint off his sleeve, _"not until I have a piece of paper in my hand that grants me ownership and control of Sodor Railways. It's a shame you sent your secretary home, I so much felt like a cup of tea while we talked. Maybe I should leave now for you to ponder over your decision. I'll be in touch, Stephen. Don't worry, I'll see myself out!"_

Sir Topham, momentarily speechless, could only watch as the man calling himself Tiberius Hatt got up and serenely walked out of his office, only looking back the once to give a brief nod of farewell before he quietly pulled the door closed behind him.

ooo

Jeanie returned from the station office and both Thomas and James looked expectantly at her.

_"Sorry I was so long, guys,"_ she said, _"but Sir Topham had to phone the delivery firm to find out what had gone wrong. It seems that their driver had a hangover after being out last night and phoned in sick. Being a Sunday morning, they had no-one else to cover him. It seems we're stuck."_

_"What about that van over there?"_ asked James, pointing in the direction of the station car park. _"Can we use that?"_

Jeanie looked over to where a white van was parked and said, _"We can't use that, it belongs to someone, but you've given me a great idea, James. Wait here, both of you."_

She walked back over to the station office and went in again. Whilst she was gone, Thomas and James saw a small group of people walking over to them, a man, a woman, and two children that were pointing excitedly at Edward.

_"Excuse me, sir,"_ said the man, _"but you don't mind if I take a photograph of your engine? The folks back home would love to see it."_

_"Eh, yes, of course you can, Sir,"_ said Thomas, curious about the man's strange accent. _"We'll move out of your way."_

_"Thank you,"_ said the man, then, to the woman standing next to him, he said _"Gee, honey, it looks really old, doesn't it?"_

_"Why, yes it does, dear. Children, stand in front of the old engine while your pop take a photo of you."_

_**~Who are they calling old?~**_ snorted Edward. _**~I've a good mind to vent smoke over them!~**_

_"Behave yourself, Edward!"_ said Thomas.

_"What was that you said?"_ asked the man, eyeing up the blue-coated man warily.

_"Sorry, sir,"_ said Thomas, _"but I was talking to my, er, colleague. He, er, acts a bit funny sometimes when there are cameras around."_

_"Right,"_ said the man, still looking a bit off.

_"Would you men mind standing in the cab for the photo?"_ the woman asked Thomas and James. _"It'll make it look like you're driving it, make it more authentic for the folks back home."_

_"Yes, okay,"_ said Thomas. _"Come on, James, you heard the lady, look smart!"_

_"Only if I can be the driver,"_ said James. _"After all, you owe me one."_

Thomas grinned, remembering, and said, _"Okay, I'll just hold a shovelful of coal, then."_

James, after making sure that his red coat was spotless, took up a dramatic pose holding onto one of Edward's control levers, whilst Thomas made it look as though he was loading coal into the engine's firebox.

_"Thank you, folks,"_ said the man after taking the snapshot. _"I see what you mean about your colleague,"_ he added to Thomas, glancing quickly to the man what seemed so proud of his red coat.

_"And what did he mean by that?"_ asked James pointedly as the foursome made their way back to the car park.

Thomas grinned as he heard the man loudly tell his wife, _"He just called him James, honey. I'm sure he said his name was Edward."_

_"I really have no idea,"_ he said to James, chuckling.

Jeanie returned shortly after, clutching some leaflets in her hand as she approached the former engines. _"There's a firm in Glastonbury where we can hire a van for the afternoon. The only problem is, I don't think we should all go. One of you will have to stay here with Edward."_

_"I don't mind staying,"_ James said to her. _"Maybe some other people will want to take photographs of my shiny red coat."_

_"Well, that settles that, then,"_ said Jeanie. _"Thomas, there's a taxi firm in the village here. We'll have them take us to Glastonbury rather than wait ages for a bus, especially on a Sunday. James, are you sure you'll be all right staying here on your own?"_

_"I'll have Edward to keep me company,"_ James cheerfully answered.

_"Right,"_ said Jeanie. _"Don't get into any trouble, or I'll tell Sir Topham, all right?"_

_"I promise,"_ said James.

_"Right, come on, then, Thomas. The village is this way..."_

It didn't take that long to get to Glastonbury as the roads were pretty free of traffic, the only thing of any noteworthy interest was the strange look the taxi driver gave Thomas as the car rocked on its suspension as he got in and out. Jeanie's explanation was that he was one of those people that were heavier than they looked.

Standing outside the premises of Jackson Gate Van Hire, Jeanie looked at Thomas and said, a big smile on her face, _"Well, we're here at last!"_

ooo

_"...and there went our emergency money,"_ said Jeanie to Thomas, waving a black-tabbed key in her hand as she came out of the van rental office. _"That one by there,"_ she added, pointing to a green transit van parked near a low wall.

.

.

.

_"...I think it's somewhere on this road, on the left,"_ said Jeanie, changing into third gear. _"Look for a high wall...ah! That's it, I think. Now, where can I park?"_

.

.

.

_"...and I'm sorry the lorry didn't come to pick them up, I don't even work for them! I was lucky to get a van free on a Sunday afternoon!...Yes, my colleague will load them up...Don't worry about how heavy they are, he's stronger than he looks...Thomas, I've got a job for you!"_

.

.

.

_"You see, Jeanie,"_ said Thomas, closing the back doors of the van, _"all it needed was to lean them on their side, lift them into the van, roll them into place and then lift them back up again. Nothing to it!"_

_"Well, I couldn't even move one of them,"_ Jeanie complained. _"How heavy are they, do you think?"_

_"Let's see now..."_ said Thomas, _"forty-five gallons times ten pounds a gallon is...four hundred and fifty pounds, divided by fourteen pounds in a stone...that gives us just over thirty-two stone."_

_"That sounds heavy, and you lifted ten of them!"_ Jeanie exclaimed. _"I'm only ten stone. Gosh, that's THREE of me you were lifting in one go, Thomas!"_

Thomas just shrugged his shoulders. _"Shouldn't we be getting back now?"_ he asked, anxious for them to be on their way.

_"Yeah, but seeing as we're here and we've now got the water, the Tor is only five minutes away. We may as well go and have a look at it while we're here."_

_"Do you think we should, Jeanie?"_ Thomas asked, feeling rather dubious about the idea.

_"Five minutes to get there,"_ said Jeanie, _"we go up, we come down, half an hour to get back to the station, that's all it will take, Thomas. I promise. Pleeease, for me?"_

_"Aw, well,...okay,"_ agreed Thomas, finding it really difficult to refuse the desperate look Jeanie was giving him. _"Where's this Tor you want to look at?"_

_"We go through those trees over there. There's a path that'll take us all the way up to the top. Come on, Thomas, follow me!"_

Standing under the rather imposing edifice that was Saint Michael's Tower, Jeanie looked around and thought to herself that, while a nice place to visit on a warm sunny day, standing on a windy hilltop in a wide open space such as she and Thomas were right then wasn't really much fun. _"Okay, Thomas, we can go now,"_ she said.

Thomas didn't make any reply and, when she turned to look at him, he was just staring into space. Nudging him, she called his name. _"Thomas, what's wrong with you?"_

_"Huh?...Sorry, Jeanie,"_ he said, shaking his head briefly. _"Coming up the path just now, I felt like...like I was racing along the track at the perfect speed. It felt like my pistons were pumping perfectly and everything was just right for me to go for miles and miles without stopping."_

_"Really?"_ Jeanie asked him. _"I didn't feel anything. I suppose it's because I've never been a train before,"_ she chuckled. _"Come on, let's get back to the van and the others!"_

As they walked back down the slope to the main road, Thomas's legs suddenly gave way and he tumbled to the ground, rolling several yards off the path before he came to a stop.

_"THOMAS!"_ Jeanie screamed, running down after him.

Thomas could feel his skin start to tingle. Panicking as he recalled Sir Topham's words about feeling strange in any way, he feared he was about to turn back into his engine form, so he yelled, _"KEEP AWAY FROM ME!"_, not wanting anyone to be injured when he regained his large metallic form, but nothing happened. He just lay there as the tingling feeling slowly faded away.

_"What's wrong, mister?"_ a little girl ran asked as she ran over to him_. "Are you hurt?"_

_"I...I felt weak all of a sudden,"_ he said to her as he slowly stood up. _"I don't know what happened to me!"_

_"I say, sir,"_ called out an elderly gentleman, quickly walking over to where Thomas was standing. Jeanie had just caught up to him and was holding onto one of his arms in concern. _"Are you all right?" _the man asked._ "I saw you fall just now. Are you hurt?"_

_"No,"_ said Thomas. _"I feel just fine."_

_"Ah, that'd be the energy lines that got to you,"_ said the elderly man, now standing next to the little girl. _"You obviously felt them when you crossed over the energy lines on the path."_

_"Energy lines? What do you mean, 'energy lines'?"_ Jeanie asked him, looking up in the air for electricity pylons that weren't there.

_"Earth energies,"_ said the man as he rummaged for something in the rucksack he was holding. He then pulled out several sheets of paper stapled together in one corner and showed them to Jeanie.

The top sheet, underneath a letterhead made up of some foreign words and an animal of some sort, had a line-drawing of the southern half of the British Isles and red and green lines stretching from one side of the country to the other, meeting and then splitting up over a small circle that was marked "Tor". Turning over the top sheet, the next page showed another map drawing where the lines meet, and marked as "Silbury Hill". The third one showed the lines meandering inside the hill, one of which was coloured in red and the other in blue. Jeanie couldn't make head or tail of what the man was showing her.

_"We've come on a day trip to Glastonbury," _the man said,_ "to explore and follow the energy lines as far as we can."_

_"What energy lines? You mean power lines?" _she asked him.

_"No, ley lines. The energy lines that go through this area. It's quite fascinating what they do here, you know." _

Jeanie noticed Thomas look curiously at the man as he was speaking, as though eager to hear what he had to say.

_"What do you mean?" _she asked, slightly frustrated that she hadn't yet had a clear answer from him. "_What do they do? Where are they? I can't see any lines anywhere!"_

_"Well, that's because they're invisible,"_ the man told her with conviction in his voice. _"They're...like electromagnetic, so to speak, and they have polarities like electricity. Positive and negative, or, as some people refer to them, masculine and feminine, and it's that particular aspect of them that's so important in the way they run through this area, well, not just this area, but in Wiltshire as well. Have you ever heard of Silbury Hill or Avebury?"_

_"No," _ said Jeanie. _"Where are they?"_

_"Well, Avebury is a village that's surrounded by a giant circle of very large standing stones, and a fe–"_

__"Oh," _interrupted Jeanie._ "Wasn't there a children's drama series some years ago about something like that? I remember something it when I was young. Is it THAT place they were on about?"__

_"Yes, that's the one,"_ said the man._ "I remember seeing parts of it when my own children watched it. Anyway, back in the olden days, two, or three thousand years or so ago before the village was there, there were two very long, wide avenues lined with more standing stones that led to the main circles at Avebury, though only one of them, the West Kennet Avenue, exists nowadays._

_"What some people say is that the original top of Silbury Hill was used as a signalling point for two groups of people. One group was of men, and the other, women. When the signal was given, the two groups would travel along their respective avenues until they finally met in the middle and performed whatever fertility rituals they did back then. Probably mass orgies or something, seeing as Silbury Hill is regarded by some as symbolic of the Mother Goddess."_

Jeanie's mouth opened in surprise just then, ill-remembered words of the translation floating in her mind. _"Mother..."_ she murmured to herself, trying to recall the rest of the words.

_"...lines are also called dragon lines,"_ the man said, not even noticing her momentary lack of interest in what he was saying to her, _"though it was the ancient Chinese Feng Shui geomancers that originally referred to them by that name."_

Jeanie had heard of Feng Shui before, merely thinking of it as some sort of hippy, touchy-feely thing that brought images to mind of long-haired students hugging trees and dancing around naked under the full moon.

_"Dragon lines?"_ she queried the man. _"What do dragons have to do with all this?" _she asked him.

_"Jeanie,"_ Thomas said to her excitedly. _"Burnett once showed me a map of Shining Time, and there were old ley lines marked on it. He said it's along those lines that some of Lady's magic runs."_

The elderly man looked at the blue-coated man, not knowing quite what he was referring to, after all, he had a few friends of his own that practised various "magicks" that he'd never heard of before, proclaiming they were in touch with "Mother Earth". _"Dragon lines,"_ he said to the young woman, _"are what some people call when they talk about ley lines."_

_"What can you tell me about these dragons?"_ she asked him. _"What colour are they?"_

_"Traditionally, they've always been portrayed as being red," _replied the man. _"No-one knows what colour they're supposed to be becau-"_

_"Red?"_ said Jeanie, a whirlwind of thoughts going round her head. _"Red as in blood-red?"_

_"You could say that,"_ said the man, looking quizzically at her.

_"May I?"_ Jeanie asked, taking the papers from his hands and turning back to the front page. There, to the right of the foreign words was, yes, a picture of what she thought to be a dragon, and it was red!

_"This is a dragon?"_ she asked the man.

_"Yes."_

In smaller print underneath the foreign words was printed "Dowsers of Wales". The dragon was standing on its hind legs and holding what looked like a letter "Y" in its claws, and it was standing over three wavy lines that she thought might be the ley lines the man had been talking about.

_"You're Welsh?"_ she asked him, but before the man had a chance to reply, she said, _"You have a dragon on your flag, don't you?"_

_"Yes, a red dragon."_

Thoughts were flashing through her mind but not connecting together, as her inexperience with this type of knowledge couldn't complete the picture that was trying to form, though she knew that what she'd just been told was very significant.

She looked at Thomas and said, _"It's not a beetle we need, it's a dragon! We've got to get back as soon as we can. Come on..."_ She would have to speak with Sir Topham to hear the words of the translation again.

Pausing to look at the elderly man, she asked, rather hesitatingly, _"And...and these dragons live in Wales?"_

The man chuckled softly and replied, _"No, of course not, They're only a myth."_

_"Oh,"_ replied Jeanie, her anticipation of a startling revelation suddenly disappearing into thin air. _"Still, Thomas, we must tell Sir Topham about this. Maybe he can suggest something."_

Then, to the elderly man, she asked, holding up the sheets of paper, _"Uh, can I keep these?"_

_"By all means,"_ he said, smiling. _"I've got some more in my bag if your friend wants a copy?"_

_"Uh, no thanks,"_ Jeanie told him, _"but thank you for telling me all this. We've...er, got to go now, er, thanks. Oh, before we go, do you have any other notes about these ley line things and dragons I could have?"_

_"Er, not on me, but I could post them to you tomorrow when I get back home."_

_"That would be great,"_ said Jeanie. _"Have you a pen and paper I can write our address on?"_

_"Yes, here..."_ said the man, rummaging in his rucksack again and bringing out a note book and pen that he then handed to her.

Jeanie gave her address as "For the attention of Sir Topham Hatt, Knapford Railway Station, Knapford, Island of Sodor".

Taking the notebook back, the elderly man raised his eyebrows on seeing the address she'd written, quite surprised that he'd found himself talking to someone from the island where a great many of the ley lines that he'd once plotted on a map led to. Maybe he'd take a trip up there in the future and see just what was on the island that was considered so important to the ancient peoples of Britain.

ooo

Once they were on the country road back to Castle Cary, Jeanie said to her passenger, _"Now, then, Thomas, here's a quick guide to driving a van for you, but there's no way at all I'm letting you have a go when it doesn't belong to me, okay?"_

_"Okay,"_ said Thomas, not too disappointed. He was still thinking about what had happened to him when walking down from the Tor, and wasn't he sure if he'd fall ill again.

Jeanie slowed the van down to a stop and switched the engine off.

_"Right,"_ she said. _"First, make sure the handbrake is on like this..."_ and she pulled the lever up just a few clicks. _"Then, make sure it's in neutral."_ She gave the gear stick a couple of sideways shakes to show Thomas.

_"There's five forward gears on this van and one reverse, so, handbrake is on, we're in neutral, turn the ignition key to start the engine...press the clutch pedal on the left, into first gear...check mirrors for other cars, none coming, signal right, check mirrors again, press the throttle pedal on the right, let the clutch out at the same time, and slowly pull away. As we go faster, I change into second gear whilst pressing the clutch and easing up on the throttle, then more throttle to speed up, and...change into third..."_

_"I see what you're doing,"_ said Thomas.

_"...do the same for fourth,"_ Jeanie continued, _"and we'll stay in fourth while we're on this bit of road. What do you mean you can see what I'm doing, Thomas?"_

_"The brakes are easy,"_ he said. _"Their either on or off. The gear stick is like Edward's reverser, which you use the...clutch, you said? Yes, clutch pedal at the same time, and you don't let the engine overspeed with the van's regulator at the same time. Seems simple enough, Jeanie!"_

_"What?"_ she gasped. _"You understood it all just like THAT?"_

_"You forget, Jeanie, I'm an engine. I know how _I_ work, so I know how this van works."_

_"Cleverclogs!"_ huffed Jeanie. _"Spoil my fun, why don't you!"_

_"Oh, I'm sorry, Jeanie,"_ said Thomas apologetically_. "I didn't mean to offend you."_

Jeanie, surprised at what he'd just said and the sad tone in which he'd said it, looked across at Thomas.

_"I wasn't upset,"_ she said. _"It was just an expression I used. I was...complimenting you in a way. I suppose the way humans speak can be a bit confusing for you at times."_

_"Sometimes,"_ agreed Thomas. _"Some of the engines have caused problems on occasion by misunderstanding what Sir Topham or someone else has said."_

_"It happens to us all,"_ Jeanie replied, smiling at Thomas to show there were no hard feelings. _"Anyway, why do you think you were affected by those ley line things?"_

_"I don't know,"_ said Thomas. _"Nothing like that happened to me when I was in Shining Time a few years ago. I passed through the ones there without any trouble at all, and the same with Lady, but I don't know if they affect her in any way. She never told me anything about them. I saw them on the old map that Burnett Stone had, but he didn't say anything else about them, only that Lady's magic used them. It's a mystery."_

_"Maybe Sir Topham will find some answers when we get back,"_ said Jeanie.

_"I hope so,"_ agreed Thomas.

They drove in silence for about ten minutes when Jeanie suddenly said, smirking at the same time, _"The van needs a key to start, you and Edward don't!"_

_"My driver needs a key to drive me,"_ said Thomas in all seriousness.

_"What?"_ said Jeanie. _"How do you need a key to start? I can understand diesels needing keys, after all, they've got engines and batteries. I thought you only needed to have a fire going inside you for you to go. Why does you driver need a key to start you?"_

_"He doesn't. He uses a key to stop me moving by myself. If the key is out, and as long as there's enough steam inside me, I can move by myself. Once he puts his key in me, I can't do that. He's in control of me then. Didn't you see the key amongst Edward's controls?"_

_"No...no, I didn't,"_ said Jeanie, frowning. _"Edward!"_ she exclaimed, then. _"Yesterday, I remember now. He moved by himself yesterday morning! Was...was that because he didn't have a key in him?"_

_"That's right." _

_"So...when your driver puts his key into wherever it goes, what is it, some sort of control box or something? Oh, God, I feel awkward asking you that! I'm...I'm sorry! I've embarrassed you! Please, Thomas, I'm so sorry!"_

Jeanie wished the ground would open up and swallow her. She felt she had just committed the worst _faux pas_ imaginable. She'd only brought up the subject of keys to score a point back against Thomas for the ease in which he'd understood the mechanics of driving a van compared to the confusion she'd felt when driving Edward, but now, the conversation has suddenly turned to what seemed to her to be some sort of mind control over the engines.

_"I don't understand, Jeanie. There's nothing for you to be sorry about. It is how it is. We engines can talk to railway staff. We do what they tell us to do, and we enjoy what we do. It's what we are. It's our purpose and why we were made."_

Jeanie couldn't get her head around that at all. She'd been brought up in a world of human rights, political correctness and personal freedom, as far as it existed.

_"But that...that's slavery!"_ she wailed.

_"I don't understand what you're saying,"_ said Thomas. _"We're engines that can talk. We're machines that run on tracks carrying people and cargo. That's what we're made for. We serve Sir Topham. Before him, we served a different railway owner. If Sir Topham sold me to another railway, I'd then work for them. I hope he doesn't sell me, though, I like working on Sodor. I've got lots of friends there. I've got my own branch line to run on with Annie and Clarabel, once Sir Topham cures Lady and we become engines again!" _

_"Thomas,"_ said Jeanie, trying to think of some way to get through to him what she believed was wrong, _"don't you have dreams, or hopes, or things that you'd like to do other than...than pulling coaches?"_

_"I do dream, Jeanie. I had a horrible dream a couple of nights ago, and the night before that. I wish I could pull the express like Gordon can, and I hope Sir Topham can cure Lady."_

Thomas just didn't know what Jeanie was trying to get through to him. He was an engine that could talk. What was so strange about that? It was only because Lady was ill and her magic had failed that he had somehow turned into a human. Once Lady had her magic back, he'd be an engine again. There couldn't be anything more simpler as far as he was concerned.

The horrible dreams he and the other had had were because they were like people now, and people could think and understand things much better than engines could, things much more complex. _Hmm, that's a word I've never used before,_ he thought to himself. _See, that proves my point! It's why my dreams when I sleep are different. More _complex_. I like that word,_ he mused. _I'll have to use that word when I talk with Gordon next. That'll shut him up and stop his boasting for a while! _

Jeanie shook her head in exasperation, not willing to accept the thought battering away at her that he was right, that he was just a talking engine. _Am I being a fool for thinking of him as a person? What do I call him? Do I call him a "he" or an "it"? Gaaaargh! _her mind screamed in frustration. _How does Sir Topham deal with all this everyday? _

The rest of the drive was spent in total silence. Jeanie's mind swirled with emotions ranging from anger and resentment on behalf of the engines to thoughts of arranging a mutiny of some sort against Sir Topham, but the more she tried to conceptualise her ideas for fighting for the engines' freedom, the more aghast she found herself at accepting the idea that what Thomas had said to her was right. It is how it is. It was why they were made. Their sentience given to them by some strange magic that she didn't have any knowledge of just to serve a purpose, and she was part of it now. She couldn't resign her job. She felt so sick of it all. She couldn't hand her notice in and walk away from them. Oh, the guilt she'd feel if she did that! She'd _have_ to stay and help save Lady. It was why she was there, wasn't it? A magical engine had spoken to her in her mind and she was now hundreds of miles away from her home on some strange quest that was turning more weird every minute.

Numbly, she eventually found herself slowing the van down as they turned into the station car park. She guided it past the stationmaster's office and over to where Edward and James were waiting. Fiercely yanking up the handbrake and switching off the engine at the same time, she opened the door, scrambled out of the driving seat and fell to her knees just in time to vomit onto the ground.

_"I wasn't sure how long you'd be,"_ said James to Thomas, _"so I kept Edward's firebox low."_

_"That's good,"_ said Thomas. _"Help me load these barrels, will you, James? There's only ten of them."_

_"Okay, Thomas. What's the matter with Jeanie?"_

_"I don't know. She seemed upset about something on the way back. James, I felt ill when we were coming down from the Tor and collapsed."_

_"What's the Tor?"_ James asked.

_"It was a hill she wanted to go up and see. It's a good thing we went. When I fell over, a man came over to us and told us about ley lines and dragons. Jeanie thinks it can help Sir Topham to save Lady."_

_"Ley lines? What are they, Thomas? How are you feeling now?"_

_"I'm fine now. Ley lines are energy lines that travel along the land. There are some in Shining Time as well. That means Sir Topham might have an idea how to save Lady, so we must get back as soon as we can. Jeanie's got some notes that she wants him to read."_

_"That's great news, Thomas. Come on, let's get that water onto the wagon so we can go back."_

Jeanie came out of the station's toilets feeling a bit better now after a wash, just as the two former engines were loading the last two barrels onto the open-top wagon, and walked round to the office to ask to use the phone again.

There was no answer from the number she dialled for Knapford Station, so she tried the one she had for Hatt Hall. The butler, Collins, answered and put her through.

_"Sir Topham,"_ she said when she heard him say hello. _"We've got the water. Thomas and James are loading it onto the wagon as I speak."_

_"Thank God for that,"_ she heard him say.

_"Is there a problem, Sir Topham?"_

_"I'll explain when you get back."_

_"Okay. Sir, I've found out something that may be important. I don't think it's a beetle we need to look for."_

_"Oh, what do you mean, Jeanie?"_

_"Sir Topham, what do you know about ley lines and dragons? Red dragons in particular."_

There was only silence from the phone for several moments before Sir Topham spoke again. _"Wait a minute, Jeanie...,"_ and she heard a soft clunk that sounded as though Sir Topham had put his receiver quickly down onto his desk.

Then there was the sound of things being moved about and the frantic rustling of paper for what seemed like ages before she heard Sir Topham pick up the receiver again. _"Jeanie,"_ he said in an excited voice, _"You must all go to the top left-hand corner of Wales, a place called The Merioneth and Llantisilly Railway Traction Company Limited. I'll contact the other rail networks, you tell Thomas just to get you all there as fast as he possibly can. The future of the Sodor Railways is in your hands now, Jeanie. Good Luck!"_

ooOOoo


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

It wasn't until six-fifteen that evening before the main lines were quiet enough for them to leave Castle Cary and make their way towards Bristol Temple Meads Station and, once their turn came, from there to South Wales through the Severn Tunnel. They would get an opportunity to top up Edward's coal and water when they got to Cardiff, where they would stay for the night. Although Sir Topham was getting permission for them to travel through the welsh countryside, it was the station master at Castle Cary phoning his friend in the local traffic controllers' office that allowed them to leave as early as they did, rather than be delayed by having to wait for suitable gaps in between the busy Monday morning commuter services.

Unfortunately for Edward, though, not being able to run around his two trucks at Castle Cary, it meant that he had to push them to Westbury Station before he could get in front of them again, and Thomas hung a white lantern on Toad, who would now be leading the train. Jeanie travelled in the brakevan as she didn't want to distract Thomas and James from their driving duties. She only went out onto Toad's veranda the once, and didn't like not being able to see where she was going as night-time fell. Instead, she spent most of the short trip inside, trying to concentrate on her paperback and not worry that an oncoming train would crash into them, unlike her two friends, who were, after all, were quite well used to travelling at night and greatly looking forward to going through the Severn Tunnel.

ooo

The journey from Bristol Temple Meads to the Severn Junction Rail Station went without incident, and it was there that Thomas invited Jeanie to ride with them in Edward's cab through the long tunnel. Jeanie accepted Thomas' offer with a slight bit of apprehension, though. Whenever she'd travelled by train in the past, it was always inside a warm carriage with lights and heating. Although it would be warm in Edward's cab, the only light there would be from the open firebox and a lantern that Thomas and James used to see what they were doing, so she made sure she was wearing the long coat that she'd found inside Toad.

Although Sir Topham had managed to persuade the various railway authorities that their journey was absolutely vital and necessary, before they were allowed to proceed any further, there were certain regulations that had to be met, and so, whilst going through the tunnel and as far as Cardiff, they would have to be accompanied by a support coach carrying a couple of engineers to serve as locomotive support crew, as well as bringing any necessary maintenance equipment they may need should Edward get into any difficulties inside the tunnel.

As they neared the tunnel's entrance, James shovelled plenty of coal into Edward's firebox to build up his boiler pressure, as they had to leave his firebox doors closed in order to avoid a blowback from the increased air pressure whilst inside the tunnel, which would be disastrous for all their safety.

The tunnel was just under four and a half miles long, with only half of that length actually underneath the river, and, as they travelled through the pure blackness, Jeanie could feel her heart beating rapidly. She ignored her two friends' conversation, preferring instead to wait anxiously until she knew they had reached the exit and the feel of the open air instead of the increased loudness of Edward's chuff-chuffing, and the strong smell of soot filling the cab that she couldn't help but to breathe in, then, suddenly, they were out of the tunnel and in the fresh, cold night air of Wales.

_"That,"_ said James, _"was brilliant! Are there any more tunnels like that in Wales?"_

_"I hope not!"_ said Jeanie.

_"None as long as that,"_ said Thomas. _"What's the matter, Jeanie? You sound as though you didn't enjoy it!"_

_"I didn't,"_ she retorted. _"I think I'm a bit claustrophobic."_

_"Not like Henry,"_ laughed James. _"Do you remember, Thomas, that time when it was raining and he didn't want to get his paintwork wet and refused to come out of a tunnel, and Sir Topham bricked him up inside?"_

_"Oh, yeah!"_ chuckled Thomas. _"I remember that well! He was in there for weeks before Sir Topham let him out again, and that was only because Gordon had broken down on the other track not twenty feet away!"_

_"That would kill me,"_ said Jeanie, looking a bit sick. _"How did Henry cope with that?"_

_"He was quite happy,"_ said James. _"Birds would often fly over and sit on the top layer of bricks and sing to him."_

_"Rather him than me,"_ said Thomas_. "I prefer to be busy all the time, not stuck sitting idle somewhere! Anyway, when we get to Cardiff, we can top up Edward and wash any soot off his boiler. Did you like the tunnel, Edward?"_

_**~It was quite thrilling,~**_ the blue engine said. _**~It's a good job I didn't break down in there, isn't it?~**_

_"Yes,"_ said Thomas, _"it is! By the way, Edward, how are you coping with all this travelling?"_

_**~I'm...okay,~**_ said Edward, _**~but I'd feel a lot better if we didn't go too fast. You know I'm older than you.~**_

_"Well,"_ said James, thinking of his blue friend, _"from what the controller in Bristol said, it'll take us all of tomorrow to get to Barmouth. What if we stop there for the night and leave early the next morning for Chchll-thlaniogg?"_

_"We'll see when we get there,"_ said Jeanie. "_It'll all depend on how busy the other train services are."_

_"I think,"_ said Thomas, looking at James, _"that it should sound more like 'Klaniog'!"_

As they neared Cardiff, Jeanie noticed that both Thomas and James had stopped talking and were now very serious-faced.

_"What's the matter with you two?"_ she asked.

_"The other side of Cardiff is where steamies used to go to die,"_ said Thomas quite solemnly.

_"We're not going near there, are we, Thomas?"_ asked James worriedly.

_"I don't think so,"_ Thomas replied.

_"It sounds like you really fear the place,"_ said Jeanie, thinking back to when she had a flashback as she was standing outside Hatt Hall and the strange memories that had gone through her mind then. Yes, she could well imagine the fear the steamies felt about that place. Whatever had made her think of herself as an old steam engine, she had no idea, other than what Sir Topham had told her of the way the railway magic affected people's perception, which didn't help her one bit.

_"Thousands of wagons, trucks and even engines were destroyed there, most of them crying out in pain as they were being cut up,"_ Thomas said, his voice only just audible against the din of Edward's chuffing. _"We heard terrible things from the engines that Sir Topham's father rescued from there. He was a good man, he was. Kind to us engines, always had a good morning for us no matter what problems he had when an engine ran late or broke down."_

ooo

Lady Jane Hatt looked over at her husband as he sat in the armchair beside the bay window of their sitting room. He'd been silent for most of the evening, having barely touched his supper, and was currently staring into the darkness outside.

_"You have a problem, Stephen,"_ she said. _"You always sit and stare when something bad is happening. Is it the trains?"_

Sir Topham turned to look at his wife.

_"Not directly,"_ he said, _"but they could be in very serious danger."_

_"What's happened to them now?"_

_"Nothing to them, my dear, nothing to them."_

Sir Topham moistened his lips as he thought over how to explain his latest dilemma.

_"Jane,"_ he said, _"I had a visitor yesterday while I was working in Knapford. He told me he was my half-brother."_

_"Half-brother?"_ Lady Hatt queried. "_You don't have a half-brother, Stephen."_

_"It turns out, dear, that I do now. His name is Tiberius Hatt. He showed me his birth certificate...with my father's name on it."_

_"B-but how could that be?"_ Lady Hatt asked. _"I didn't know your father was married to someone else before your mother. Surely..."_

_"He wasn't,"_ said Sir Topham. _"He had an affair with a woman in South Wales when I was a young boy. He met her when he was in Barry, looking for old engines. He...he paid he to have an abortion, but she kept the baby instead, and now he's come here to claim his inheritance."_

_"But...but that means you're the oldest, Stephen. He has no right to anything. Everything was left to you, wasn't it?"_

_"Yes, it was." _

_"Then how can he claim anything? Oh, Stephen, what a time for this to happen now!"_

_"That's just it, Jane,"_ said Sir Topham. _"It's happening now because he...this Tiberius chap, I believe he's the one that caused the trains to change into people. I think he did something to Lady's magic. Just what he did, I haven't a clue, but he told me he could cure them if I gave him the railways."_

_"But...that's monstrous!"_ cried Lady Hatt. _"How could he do such a thing?"_

Sir Topham just slowly shook his head.

_"But...he's killed Molly and Neville! He nearly killed Gordon as well! Stephen..."_ Lady Hatt stood up and walked over to stand in front of her husband, folded her arms in front of her and said, _"I want that man arrested!"_

_"That's out of the question, my love,"_ said Sir Topham, standing up and placing his hands onto his wife's shoulders. _"I can't tell the police to arrest a man for killing steam engines, can I, now? They'd laugh me out of the station!"_

_"But what can we do?"_ cried Lady Hatt. _"You can't be thinking of giving this...this murderer control of the railways, surely?"_

_"I just don't know what to do,"_ replied Sir Topham. _"He knows what's going on here, that's for sure, and he said he can cure them, but if I don't give him the railways, then they have no more than a week left to live."_

ooo

With Edward parked up for the night in Cardiff Central Station, Thomas and James were quite pleased to show some eager drivers and railway staff over the blue engine, while Jeanie excused herself and rang Sir Topham for confirmation of what arrangements he'd made for their journey to North Wales. Edward was quite pleased with all the fuss and attention he was getting as, apart from the good-feeling the steamies got from such things, it helped him to forget his worries.

ooo

The following morning, a bleary-eyed Jeanie was woken up by James shaking her shoulder and offering her a cup of tea.

_"Wake up, sleepy-head,"_ he said to her, shaking her shoulder gently. _"We've go to go and load some coal and water before we can leave."_

_"Doh, this place is noisy at night,"_ Jeanie moaned. _"I don't know how many times I was woken up by trains passing through! WHAT?"_ she cried then, sitting up and looking out through the van's open door and seeing only darkness outside_. "It's still night! God, James, what time is it?"_

_"That would have been the goods trains from Milford Haven,"_ James replied, _"and it's five-thirty, time to get up. I'll leave you get sorted while I go and get Edward ready."_

_"What the..."_ moaned Jeanie to herself, falling back onto the bunk. _"They don't need ME to get Edward ready, what'd they wake me up for? Just five more minutes..."_ she murmured, snuggling up inside her sleeping bag...

ooo

Drawn by an early-morning news report that a steam engine was making an unexpected journey through Wales, and despite the weather's attempt to put a damper on things by wetting everyone with a light drizzle, many train enthusiast living near the main line made a special effort to look out for it, hoping to get a good picture or recording of it as it passed by. People slowed their cars as they drove across road bridges that crossed over the line when they saw the approaching engine. People waved at Thomas and James, even the engine itself, while waiting at level crossings and on the platforms of the stations they went through. Thomas had been sure to ask about any more tunnels along their route, and, fortunately for Jeanie's nerves, she was still sleeping when they entered the much shorter tunnel at Gowerton.

ooo

The Mayor of Sodor was none too pleased with the reports he'd been given of the problems that three days without train services had caused the traders and businesses on the Island. He was waiting for his secretary to get him Sir Topham Hatt on the phone for him when she buzzed him on the office intercom.

_"Yes, Phyllis?"_ he asked.

_"I have a Mr. Hatt here wanting to speak to you, sir."_

_"Mr. Hatt? Don't you mean "Sir Hatt", Phyllis?"_

_"No, sir. He definitely told me he was Mister Hatt. Shall I send him in?"_

_"Hmm., a Mr. Hatt. I wonder what this is about. Yes, Phyllis, send him in, please."_

Moments later, his office door opened and a middle-aged, grey-haired man dressed in a dark business suit walked in carrying a briefcase.

_"Mr...Hatt?"_ said the mayor.

_"Tiberius Hatt,"_ the man replied. _"I understand you are having some trouble with the train company here on Sodor. I believe I can help you with that."_

_"You work with Sir Topham?"_ the mayor asked.

_"No, I'm his half-brother and I'm not, at the moment, connected with Sodor Railways. I do, however, have some important information that may be of interest to you. May I sit down, Mr. Mayor?"_

_"Certainly, Mr. er, Hatt, please sit down. What is this...information you have for me?"_

_"Well, as you know, all of Sodor's trains are on stop due to, er, signal failure, and I have it on good authority that they won't be running this week, either."_

_"How do you that if you don't work for Sir Topham?"_

_"I was chatting with him only yesterday, in fact, and we were discussing the problem he was having with the trains. What I would like to chat about with you, though, is the problem you and your predecessors have been having with him over the years, what with his trains forever breaking down, runaway engines crashing into things, freight being delivered to the wrong place, that sort of thing."_

_"Yes, well, he has let us down a few times before now, but that's in the nature of things. Nothing's perfect and, after all, he does insist on using old steam engines on his railways, but what has that got to do with his current problem?"_

Tiberius opened his briefcase and pulled out some folders, placing them on the desk in front of the mayor.

_"The top folder,"_ said Tiberius, _"contains a copy of the accounts for Sodor Railways as they stand at the end of the last financial year. They're available to the public from Company House, as you no doubt already know, and, looking at the balance sheet, it would appear that he's in a bit of a tight spot regarding his financial fluidity, so to speak. Practically all his funds are tied up in the business and, if you look through them, Mr. Mayor, you'll see that he's heavily in debt as well. The engines aren't being serviced as often as they should and track maintenance doesn't appear to be very prominent in the grand scheme of things, either."_

_"Why are you telling me this, Mr. Hatt, after all, it doesn't seem very loyal to your brother, does it?" _

_"Half-brother, Mr. Mayor,"_ said Tiberius. _"The second folder contains a copy of the Royal Charter that grants the Hatt family the right to run train services in perpetuity on Sodor. Were you aware of this, Mr. Mayor?"_

_"A Royal Charter...in perpetuity?"_ gasped the mayor. Being a former barrister, he knew full well what that implied. _"No, I wasn't aware of that! How did...why has he got that?"_

_"It was granted to his...to our grandfather for services rendered to the country back in nineteen-sixteen. He'd done some work for the army to help them during the Great War and got that as a reward. However, if you were to read the small print, as they say, it clearly states that it is only valid so long as, and I quote: 'providing a steam train service to the people and industry of the Island of Sodor'. Now, if he has no steam trains to run, he can't run anything." _

_"What are you trying to say, Mr. Hatt? He does have steam trains running. One was running on Saturday, in fact."_

_"It may well have, Mr. Mayor, but should he, for some reason, not have them anymore, well, that charter becomes worthless to him. Now, I'm not a lawyer or anything, but to me, it clearly states 'steam train service', not 'diesel'. He'd be acting against the charter's conditions should he operate a diesel-only service, wouldn't he? I understand you have legal experience, Mr. Mayor?"_

_"Yes, I do, but...what are you implying, sir? Does he still have steam engines?"_

_"Only in the, er, weakest sense, Mr. Mayor,"_ said Tiberius, sitting back in his seat and crossing his legs. _"Now,"_ he continued, _"in the third folder, which I will leave here for you to look at, as well as the first two, of course, you will find a copy of my business plan. With that are some letters from various scrap metal firms, some road construction companies, and one from a haulage firm that I have a very close connection to, if you'll pardon the expression. I am its owner, I have to admit. Vested interests and all that, you understand."_

_"What do I want to see your business plan for, Mr. Hatt?"_ the mayor asked, feeling that there was something going on here that had some serious implications. _"Shouldn't you be showing all this to your bank manager?"_

_"The reason I'm here instead of in a bank, Mr. Mayor,"_ said Tiberius, getting up and closing his briefcase, _"is because I was wondering if you would be interested in becoming a fellow shareholder in the new Sodor Roadways company I'm looking to set up on this island once the railways lines are all gone?"_

ooo

It was whilst going through Llanelli Station, a place that James' attempt at pronouncing almost had Thomas in stitches, when a young boy standing with his mother on the platform as they waited for another train, caught his eye. The boy, just like all the other people, waved at them as they passed, but what had caught James' eye in particular was the red coat the boy was wearing. It was as red as his bodywork had been when he was an engine!

_"Hey, look at him!"_ he said to Thomas.

_"Where?"_ Thomas asked.

_"That little boy by there,"_ James said, pointing.

_"Ha!"_ laughed Thomas. _"A mini-James! Just one of you is enough!"_

They all had something to eat in the station café at Carmarthen, after Thomas had woken Jeanie up, that was. After backing onto the main line again, Edward wearily pumped his pistons and they set off for Lampeter. The peaceful countryside, despite the now heavy rain, had set Thomas into a happy frame of mind, whilst James worked up a sweat ensuring that Edward had enough pressure to cope with any of the steep gradients they were sure to meet. Aberaeron and Aberystwyth passed by over the course of the day and, eventually, they reached Machynlleth, where, on seeing the station's nameplate, James looked at Thomas and simply shook his head, deciding to remain silent. It was there, though, that Edward had to run around his two wagons so that he wouldn't have to push them the rest of the way.

They went through another tunnel between the Penhelig and Aberdovey stations, which Jeanie forced herself to endure, and then it was on to Barmouth, where they parked up on a little siding so that they'd be safe out of the way of other trains. It seemed to have taken forever to get there, as they'd had to wait at times so that the section of track they were on would be clear, and they were all looking forward to reaching Llaniog Station, their intended destination, in the morning. If Jeanie had found it at all difficult or confusing being around engines that could talk, in this case, whenever Edward had spoken to Thomas and James earlier that day, it was certainly confusing to her whenever they'd had to stop at any of the stations in west Wales, where nearly everyone spoke in Welsh. Hearing the strange-sounding words confirmed for her the difficulty James had been having whenever he'd tried to pronounce the names of welsh towns and villages. Despite her long sleep that morning, it wasn't long once she'd cooked and eaten supper before she was fast asleep again .

ooo

Peregrine Percival wished he had something a bit stronger than tea to drink as he thought about what Sir Topham had just told him. It was absolutely horrendous what this "Tiberius Hatt" was doing.

_"What are you going to do, Sir Topham?"_ Mr. Percival asked. He'd been surprised earlier that evening when Sir Topham had knocked on his front door and he had seen the serious look his employer had had on his face. He suspected bad news, but not as bad as this!

_"I don't know yet what he plans to do,"_ Sir Topham replied. _"He didn't stay long. As far as letting him have the railways, I...I don't know what's the best. If I don't give in to his demand, all the trains will die, and if I do give in, what becomes of the railways then? Is he going to let things carry on as normal or what?"_

_"How are Jeanie, Thomas and James getting on? Have they got the healing water yet?"_

_"Yes, they've got that, but I had to send them to Wales. It seems that the translation refers to dragons, not beetles, after all. How that can help us, I don't know, but some of the old letters from that chest mention a place in North Wales that was important to the people who started all this."_

_"But, Sir Topham,"_ said Mr. Percival_, "dragons don't exist. How can that help us?"_

_"I don't know, Peregrine. It may be something symbolic, something relevant to the process, maybe. I haven't heard from them since they arrived in Cardiff Sunday night, so I don't know how they're getting on. I can only hope for the best. We've got a few days yet before I have to make a decision, one I'm not looking forward to making either way!"_

ooo

It was almost seven o'clock on Tuesday morning when Edward, Thomas, James and Jeanie arrived at Llaniog Station. It was a small station consisting of barely more than a single platform with one office building and a single lamp-post with the station nameplate attached to it about a foot below the light fitting. Both the station and town were located at the bottom of a wide valley overlooked by high mountains on three sides. The open end of the valley led to some low hills on which could be seen the tops of coal mines against the grey clouds that filled the sky. The rain was holding off though there was a bit of a wind picking up.

Standing on the platform waiting for them was the station master, dressed in a light-blue uniform and a cap with a matching light-blue band around it and a floppy white cloth top. He had a thin, long face with sad-looking eyes, a long, pointy nose and a long, droopy moustache. He was studying a timetable and shaking his head slowly from side to side as though he was disappointed with something.

As Edward came to a stop next to him, Thomas, James and Jeanie stepped off the footplate they'd been riding on and approached him. Jeanie, finding it much colder out of Edward's cab than in, buttoned up the long coat.

"_Good morning, Sir"_ said Thomas. _"Has Sir Topham been in contact with you?"_

"_Morning, bach,"_ replied the station master, looking up from his clipboard. _"Yes, he has. I'm Dai Station. You must be Thomas, James and Jeanie. Morning to you all."_

"_Good morning, Dai,"_ said Jeanie.

_"Good morning, Sir,"_ said James.

_"That's a very nice red coat you've got there, James,"_ said Dai Station.

_"Thank you, Sir, though I prefer my shiny red paint. This is harder to keep clean,"_ laughed James.

Dai Station looked oddly at James for a second or two, then over to Edward, and said, to the surprise of both Thomas and James, _"And a good morning to you, too, my fine blue friend. What's your name?"_

_**~My name is Edward, Sir, and a good morning to you as well. How are you?~**_

"_Oh, I'm doing very well, thank you, Edward,"_ answered Dai, smiling, _"but it's more than I can say about our two missing friends. I don't know why they bother sending them timetables; that engine goes to his own time. They'd be better off asking him what time he wants to start in the morning and set the timetables to _his_ clock! Well, we haven't got all morning to wait for them two,"_ said Dai Station.

Then he pointed back down the line in the direction Edward and his passengers had come from, and said, _"If you follow the track down to that shed over there, you'll find Jones the Steam and Ivor inside. Tell him to hurry up and get over here. I've got some important jobs for him to do today."_

"_Er, yes, Sir,"_ said Thomas. Looking over at Jeanie, he shrugged his shoulders and, with a glance to James, gestured for them both to accompany him.

It was just a short walk to the shed and, as they stood on the track in front of the shed's large double-doors, Thomas called out, _"Er...Hello! Is anybody in there?"_

"_Oh, hullo,"_ a lilting voice called back from inside. _"The doors aren't locked. Give them a pull and come in, if you please."_

Thomas and James went over to the doors and, each gripping an iron hoop where the doors met, pulled them wide open. Inside the shed and illuminated by two rather feeble strip lights, they saw the front of a little green steam engine that wasn't even as big as Percy had been before that fateful night they all changed into people. The engine only had two sets of wheels, but, what would have made Percy really jealous, were the three very shiny brass pipes in front of the engine's cab instead of normal whistles.

The two former engines and Jeanie entered the shed and walked around the side of the little engine, looking for whoever it was that had invited them in.

_"Oh, hello, Sir,"_ said Thomas, seeing a man sitting on the engine's low cab step just about to drink from what looked like a mug of tea.

He was dressed in blue overalls with a tan-coloured, sleeveless, leather waistcoat with a red and white-spotted scarf poking out from under his chin. He had a cap on his head similar to the one worn by Dai Station, but all blue in colour. He was clean-shaven and had a cheerful, chubby face and was wearing round-rimmed glasses. In the weak fluorescent light, his short red hair could just be seen poking out from under his cap.

"_Morning to you both,"_ the man said, looking up at his three early-morning visitors. _"Jumping cold it is, too. Would you like a cup of tea, all of you? I'm sure I can find some more mugs around here somewhere."_

"_Er, no tha-" _

_"Oh, yes please,"_ said Jeanie, interrupting Thomas. _"It is rather cold, after all. Tea for you, James?"_

_"Yes, please,"_ said James. _"Come on, Thomas, don't be a spoilsport!"_

_"Oh, all right,"_ said Thomas, then, to the man sitting on the engine's step, he said, _"Thank you, Sir. My name's Thomas, and these are my friends, James and Jeanie. Er, Dai Station said for us to tell you to hurry along. He says that he's got some important jobs for you to do."_

"_Oh, he can wait,"_ the man said back to Thomas. _"He's always fussing about his timetable is Old Dai, but he's a good man, yes. Oh, I'm Edwin Jones, by the way, but you can call me Jones the Steam. 'Sirs' are the people that own the railway!"_

Jones the Steam stood up and gestured to the green engine beside him, and said, his voice full of pride, _"And this is the locomotive of the Merioneth and Llantisilly Railway Traction Company Limited, which is a long name for a little engine, so we just call him Ivor. I'm his driver, by the way, though I don't really drive him, he drives himself, you see. Say hello, Ivor, while I go and look for some more mugs for our guests."_

"_Brrp-bRRp-brrP!"_ the little engine's three pipes excitedly tooted.

A massive smile lit up Thomas' face and he said to the green engine, _"Hello, Ivor! It's very nice to meet you, too!"_

"_Brrp-Brrp-BRRP?"_ Ivor then asked, the particular notes the pipes blew making his curiosity obvious.

"_Yes, I can,"_ said Thomas. _"James and I are engines, too, or rather, we were. We work on the Island of Sodor for Sir Topham Hatt. You see, a terrible illness has struck Lady, the magical engine that lives far away in Shining Time, and it's affected all the trains on Sodor. We all turned into people overnight and we're on a special task to save her and bring her magic back before she...before she dies,"_ he finished sadly.

Thomas' joy at meeting a fellow engine that he could talk to was dampened as he thought about Lady, and his smile was replaced by a worried frown.

"_BrrRRRrp,"_ said Ivor.

"_Thank you,"_ acknowledged Thomas. _"We hope so, too. Sir Topham told us to come here as soon as we could. We're looking for someone who can tell us all about red dragons."_

"_I know someone who can do that,"_ said Jones the Steam, re-joining them and placing three, slightly grubby-looking mugs onto the step he'd been sitting on just recently, _"but what do you want to know about dragons for, if you don't mind me asking?"_

"_No, not at all,"_ said Thomas. _"Jeanie, is it all right if Jones hears the translation?"_

"_Ye-yes, of course,"_ Jeanie replied, slightly startled. She had been looking back and forth as Thomas and Ivor had been "talking". She unbuttoned her coat and reached inside, then withdrew a folded up sheet of paper_. "It's a bit crumpled,"_ she said apologetically as she opened it. Taking a deep breath, she read out what was written on it.

"_Great Darkness strikes down the Pure One. She is stricken by the Destroyer. The Pure One shall not this time take of the Birth Water, She to drink of the Mother herself. Eternal is the Well of the Mother, Eternal is the Product of Her Well. The Winged Beast, born the way of the bird but not of the bird. He that possess the Coat of Blood, Pure is his Song. He to, brackets, eat/overcome, close brackets, unknown glyph, T.H., and The Burning Rock. Sacred is He that devours. She shall breathe the Spirit of Life anew." _

"_The words in brackets were possible other translations of the original words that Sir Topham's grandfather suggested,"_ she said, wondering what the short engine driver would think of it.

"_That sounds rather odd,"_ said Jones, taking his cap off and scratching his head. _"What does it all mean?"_

"_Apparently,"_ said Jeanie_, "it's part of a translation of an ancient tablet that Sir Topham Hatt's grandfather came across many, many years ago. I've looked on the internet and found some stuff that makes us believe it's instructions on how we can save Lady, the, er, the magical engine."_

Despite how used to the sentient trains Jeanie was getting, she found it hard to acknowledge that fact to a stranger such as Edwin Jones. Deep in her mind and, despite the previous few days, she still maintained a fear that this was still some great prank being played on her, but, on the other hand, she thought to herself, this man, Jones, actually worked with a talking train. She had looked closely at the little green engine and there was no-one else in the shed with them that could be making him "speak". Shaking her head to clear her distracting thoughts, she carried on with her explanation of what they'd done so far.

"_We believe it tells of ingredients that we need for it to work. The words 'Mother's Chalice, that of the Well' we believe to be healing water from the Chalice Wells of Glastonbury, and we've got ten barrels of it in the brakevan. 'The Rock that Burns' has to be coal, which we've already got on Sodor."_

"_Yes,"_ said Jones, nodding his head as he filled a chine teapot with hot water from a tap on Ivor's boiler. _"That sounds about right, doesn't it, Ivor?"_

"_Brrp!"_

_"But,"_ Jeanie went on to say, _"Sir Topham told me that Mister Stone, Lady's engineer, thought that it was contaminated with something, so I don't know what we can do about that, unless we get coal from somewhere else!"_ she finished excitedly, thinking of something in particular. She then looked to Thomas, and asked, _"What do you think? Did Lady say anything to you about her coal?"_

A look of concentration fell upon Thomas' face as he recalled what his magical friend had told him the morning he woke up in a new body, then, shaking his head, he said, _"No, she didn't say anything to me about it."_

"_Well, we've got plenty of good Welsh coal here, mind you,"_ Jones said, smiling as he swished his teapot a few times before pouring its contents into the three mugs.

"_Well, that'll certainly help us, won't it, Thomas?"_ said Jeanie. _"I'll have to contact Sir Topham and ask him what he thinks."_

"_Yes, it certainly will help,"_ agreed Thomas.

Then, looking down again at the paper she was holding, Jeanie said, _"The Pure One Is Lady. There's nothing alive that is as pure in heart as she is...was...will be!" _

"_And the Spirit of Life,"_ added Thomas, _"has to be the magic she uses to keep the railway alive. That's right, isn't it, James? JAMES? Where have you gone?"_

_"I'm over here,"_ James' voice called back from the other side of the green engine. _"I'm looking at Ivor. He's really old, you know!"_

"_Yes, he is,"_ said Thomas, _"but,"_ he continued, now looking at Jones the Steam, _"one thing we haven't found out yet is who it is that has a coat of blood. We weren't sure what that meant at first, but we later found out that Wales has a red dragon on its flag. When Jeanie phoned Sir Topham and told him what we'd found out, he was really excited, and he told us to come straight away to North Wales. Do you think you can help us, Mr Jones, Sir?"_

"_Brrp-brrp! Brp-BRP-brp-brrp-brp-BRRP!"_ tooted Ivor excitedly.

"_Yes, Ivor, we must,"_ agreed Jones, then, to Thomas and Jeanie, he said, _"If you three don't mind squeezing into Ivor's cab with me, then we'll toddle over to see Dai Station and then we'll go up to the mountains and see Idris, as long as he hasn't taken his family out to play. Come on, Ivor, get some steam up, will you?"_

James came back over and, while the three of them drank their tea, hoped that this Idris fellow that Edwin Jones had referred to was in when they arrived where he lived. Jones emptied and put away his teapot inside a small tool box attached to the side of the little engine's boiler, and then climbed up onto Ivor's footplate. Reaching down, he offered his hand to help Jeanie onto the step. Thomas and James went round the other side and joined them both. As Jones the Steam had implied, it was rather a squeeze for the four of them, but they just about managed to fit in.

"_Brrp-brrp!"_

"_Yes, Ivor, off we go!"_

The little green engine moved slowly out of his shed and followed the bend in the track to the right, and puffed along the main track over to Llaniog Station.

"Pshhhhtehkooff-Pshhhhtehkooff... "

The sound of the engine was a familiar one to the local population as he trundled along to the water tower and filled up his tank before setting off for the station itself, but, as they came alongside a signal box, the signal was telling them to stop.

"_Ooh,"_ said Jones. _"Here's a how-do-you-do. Owen's not awake yet. Give him a blow, Ivor!"_

"_Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrp!"_

"_Is it early you are, Jones the Steam?"_ yawned a dark haired man wearing a bobble night-cap on his head as he leant out of the signal box window.

"_No, it's late you are, Owen the Signal. Pull your little lever, bach. We've got work to do!"_

Metallic clanking could be heard as Owen pulled his levers and the signal was raised for Ivor to carry on to the platform where Dai Station was waiting for them.

Once Ivor stopped next to Dai, Thomas and James stepped down off his footplate and, on seeing Edward and his two wagons now parked up on a siding behind the station office, Thomas called out, _"How did you get over there, Edward?"_

"_I asked him to go and wait there,"_ said Dai. _"Ivor's got his jobs to do first before he can help you."_

"_Oh, okay,"_ said Thomas.

"_Morning Jones. Morning Ivor,"_ Dai Station then said to the green engine and his driver.

"_Morning, Dai,"_ said Jones. _"What have you got for us this morning?"_

"_Oh, nothing special. You'd better get that coal truck over to Grumbley Gasworks. There's a box of tomatoes for Mr. Davey at Tan-y-Gwlch, and there's this bag of fish for Mrs. Thomas, if you wouldn't mind?"_

"_Oh, I don't mind,"_ replied Jones. _"I'll take it in with Ivor."_

"_Oh, I wouldn't do that;"_ said Dai. _"She'll want it fresh, not fried!"_

"_Oh, all right,"_ laughed Jones. _"I'll put it on the coal. She can have it black. I'd better go and couple up the truck then, Dai."_

"_Right you are, then, Jones. Bye Ivor!"_

"_Brrrrrp,"_ Ivor puffed back, and off he went, 'Pshhhhtehkooff-ing' away from the station and to the top end of the loop around Llaniog Station to pick up the truck.

Dai then noticed both Thomas and Jeanie looking a bit worried_. "Is there a problem?"_ he asked.

"_Um, Dai,"_ said Jeanie hesitatingly. _"Mr. Jones said that he could help us with our task. Has Sir Topham explained anything to you about it?"_

"_Not really,"_ said Dai, _"and I'll do what I can to help you, but Ivor has to do his jobs first. Regulations, you see, but he won't be too long."_

"_Okay, we understand that,"_ said Thomas. _"He seems a really useful engine."_

"_Yes,"_ said Dai, _"he is that, but he has his moments, too. Now, what can I do to help you?"_

"_Well,"_ said Jeanie, nervously fidgeting with her fingers as she stood in front of the officious stationmaster, _"I think we need to buy some Welsh coal, but I'll ha-have to borrow your phone to speak with Sir Topham first. We also have to go and speak with someone who can tell us about d-d-dragons."_

"_Oh, that's no problem, Miss Jeanie,"_ said Dai, smiling to reassure the young woman. _"If you want to know about dragons, then you need to go and see Idris. There's no-one around here that knows about dragons more than him. He lives up on Smoke Hill, but Ivor will have to go with you as Idris is a bit shy of strangers, you see, and then you can go and get your coal from Pugh's Pit. It's the other side of the mountains away from Smoke Hill, but you'll have to join onto another line to get there."_

"_This 'Idris' fellow sounds like just the person we need to meet,"_ said Jeanie, her eyes wide with hope as she looked over to Thomas and James.

"_Oh, yes,"_ chuckled Dai_. "He can tell you about dragons all right! Come into my office, then, if you want to phone Sir Topham."_

_"Wait here, you two,"_ Jeanie told Thomas and James, _"I shouldn't be too long,"_ and she followed Dai Station into his office to use his phone.

Thomas and James locked eyes and both raised their eyebrows at what Dai had just told them. It seemed that they were on the right track coming all this way to North Wales. They were going to meet a dragon expert _and, _hopefully, get some good coal, good Welsh coal at that!

_"It's coal from Wales that Sir Topham used for Henry,"_ Thomas said to his red-coated friend. _"It helped _him_ when he was poorly, so it should help Lady as well."_

_"Yes,"_ said James, _"as long as he lets us get some, but how are we going to get it back to Sodor? We don't have a coal truck!"_

_"Maybe Dai can let us borrow one,"_ Thomas suggested. _"He has some empty ones on that siding Edward is on."_

_"Let's hope so,"_ said James, turning to look at the station's office building.

Jeanie entered Dai's office and stopped as Dai pointed to a map on the wall behind his desk.

"_This is a map of the area,"_ he told her. He gestured to an area just off centre-right of the map and added, _"This is where we are right now, and this is where Pugh's Pit is,"_ he continued, pointing to the top right-hand area.

Jeanie asked Dai_, "Er, will Edward be able to get up there. Those hills do look rather steep."_

"_Yes, he'll be all right up there,"_ said Dai. _"He looks a strong engine, but, like I said, you'll need Ivor and Jones to go with you to see Idris. He lives up here."_

Dai then pointed at another part of the map and Jeanie could just about make out some faded writing that said "Smoke Hill". It looked as though someone had, as a joke, drawn two flying dragons on the map.

_"He doesn't like strangers," _said Dai,_ "and he might flare up if he's in a bad mood,"_ and he chuckled as though what he'd just said was funny in some way, leaving Jeanie to raise her eyebrows in bemusement at the man, but if this "Idris" helped them with their task to save Lady, then there wasn't much else she could do about it.

Putting the incident down to the man's character, Jeanie asked to borrow the phone.

_"Well, that could have gone better,"_ she said quietly to herself as she put the phone's receiver back in its cradle. If she didn't know any better, she'd have said that Sir Topham was showing all the signs of letting the situation get on top of him. He'd been quite stand-offish during their conversation just now, as though he couldn't wait to finish the call. _I wonder what's bothering him,_ she thought to herself. _I hope the other former engines on Sodor are still okay._

"_Er, Dai, would we be able to hire a truck to carry the coal, please?"_ she asked the stationmaster cautiously.

_"There'll be plenty of spare trucks at Pugh's Pit,"_ replied Dai. _"If you get the coal on your way back from Smoke Hill, you can then go onto the loop that will take you around the mountains and back to Tewyn. I'll make some arrangements for you to go back south to Dovey Junction and across to Shrewsbury. From there, you go north to Crewe and then back to Barrow. When will you be leaving?"_

_"How long will it take us to get to Smoke Hill and, er, Pugh's Pit, do you think?"_

Dai then muttered under his breath as he made some calculations, and said, _"Once Ivor is free to help you, you should be all done by six o'clock tonight. Is that all right, Miss Jeanie?"_

_"Er, yes, that'll be fine,"_ she answered enthusiastically, wondering what she was going to do while she waited all that time. _"Excuse me, Dai, but is there anywhere in, er, Laniog where I can get something decent to eat? I'd really love to have something more substantial than baked beans on toast!"_

"_Yes, there's a little café on the left as you enter the town from here,"_ said Dai, ignoring her mispronunciation. He was well used to English people not being able to pronounce the double-'l' correctly. _"It should be open by now."_

"_Thank you. I would really love a fry-up,"_ said Jeanie, licking her lips in anticipation. _"Er, do I need to order the coal now?"_ she then asked Dai.

"_Yes,"_ he replied. _"I'll phone Pugh and tell him you'll be collecting it this afternoon and he can put it on the railway company's account."_

"_That's great,"_ said Jeanie cheerfully. _"Sir Topham said that he'll pay for it, so I'll get him to sort it out with their accounts department."_

"_In fact,"_ Dai then said_, "thinking about it, you can use the empty truck that Ivor'll be brining back from Grumbley Gasworks. He can go with you up to Pugh's Pit to introduce you to Pugh. He's a good man is Pugh. He'll give you some proper Welsh coal that'll hopefully help your magical friend to get better again. I hope everything works out well for you, Miss Jeanie. It's not often we get such important visitors here at Llaniog!"_

_"I'm not important,"_ scoffed Jeanie defensively. _"I just work for Sir Topham, and it hasn't been for a whole week yet!"_

_"He spoke very highly of you when he phoned me on Sunday,"_ said Dai. _"Very highly indeed!"_

_"I don't know why,"_ said Jeanie_. "I'm only here now because I stopped to help at an accident!"_

_"Well, from what he said to me, it seems you have a part to play in what's happening on Sodor."_

"_Psh! Me? I'm just a former art student who's got herself mixed up in some very...strange things,"_ Jeanie finished slowly.

_"Whatever you say, Miss Jeaie,"_ said Dai. _"Anyway, I'd better make sure that Jones has gone to work, or there'll be nothing right here!"_

When they stepped out of the office, no-one, not even Ivor, were anywhere to be seen.

_"Good,"_ said Dai. _"Jones has gone. He'll be back in a few hours and then you can go and meet Idris. I'll leave you to do whatever you want, Miss Jeanie,"_ and with that, the stationmaster returned inside his office.

_"Thanks, Guys!"_ said Jeanie to herself. _"Leave me here on my own while you go off gallivanting with Jones and Ivor, why don't you?" _

She decided to make her way down to the little town just a couple of hundred yards away, passing in front of Edward as he waited patiently on the siding behind the station.

She then jumped in fright as the blue engine's whistle let out a loud "PEEP!"

_"EDWARD!"_ she cried. _"What on Earth did you do THAT for? I nearly sh-, I nearly died of fright!"_

_"Sorry, Jeanie, it was me, not Edward!"_ James' voice called back.

James jump down from Edward's cab and walk over to where she was standing and looking quite cross.

_"Sorry about that, Miss Jeanie,"_ he said_, "but Thomas has gone off with Ivor and left me here to keep Edward company. He gets to have all the fun! I saw you passing and thought you were leaving me here as well!"_

_"No,"_ said Jeanie, her heart now beating at a normal rate, _"I thought you'd all gone and left me here on my own. You can come with me and have some proper breakfast, if you want. According to Dai, there's a café not far from here. Anyway, are you coming?"_

_"Yes, please,"_ James replied eagerly. _"See you later, Edward!"_

_**~See you later,~**_ the blue engine said back to his friend. _**~You, too, Miss Jeanie!~**_ he added, but, of course, it was only James that heard that, and he was rather surprised when Jeanie suddenly said, _"See you later, Edward!"_

Jeanie then looked at James, seeing him staring at her.

_"What?"_ she asked. _"It's polite to say goodbye or something when you're leaving someone. You know I can't hear him, but he may be able to hear me! Anyway, the town is this way..."_

Edward felt a bit sad as he watched the two of them walk away. He'd been shunted onto this siding by the stationmaster and made to wait again while his friends went off and did exciting things. He'd been so excited when the little old engine had puffed over from his shed, and he wanted to say hello to him but didn't get a chance to as the green engine had some important jobs to do. _He'll be back afterwards, _thought Edward. _Maybe I can speak with him then_.

He'd felt a few more twinges from his weakened coupling rod on the long journey to get here, and was still rather wary of saying anything about it to the others. They were so near now to getting the things they needed to save Lady, and he just couldn't be the one that told them they'd have to stop. All his friends would forever know that he'd let everyone down, and then he felt even more sad.

ooo

_"...and that was how I met Lady for the first time,"_ said Thomas. _"I must say, Jones, the countryside here is wonderful to look at!"_

_"Yes, it is,"_ Jones the Steam proudly agreed. _"There's none better!"_

_"Brrp-brrp!"_

_"Yes, Ivor,"_ said Thomas, _"I agree. It makes the job worth doing."_

As they travelled across a viaduct overlooking a railway line in the valley far below, Jones told his passenger how the journey was Ivor's favourite run; along the top of the hill and how he liked to look down the valley and see the trees and the stone walls and the horses and the sheep and the houses and the sea shining in the distance. Soon, Grumbley Gasworks loomed ahead and Ivor started to slow down, finally stopping on a small platform that overlooked a coalheap at the bottom of a slope. Jones opened the hatch on the side of the truck and its contents of coal tumbled out onto the heap below. After closing and fastening the hatch, Jones then said, _"Won't be long now and we can have something to eat."_

They left the gasworks and then went to Grumbley Town, stopping at the station platform there. Mr Davey was on the platform waiting for his tomatoes, and he thanked both Jones and Ivor for delivering them so promptly. Taking Mrs. Thomas' bag of fish off Ivor's slowly diminishing coal stock, Jones said, _"We can eat the fish we're delivering with some freshly-cooked chips. I don't know about you, Thomas, but my mouth is watering already!" _

Thomas started to laugh loudly.

"_I don't think it was THAT funny a joke,"_ Jones the Steam said, smiling in puzzlement.

"_No, it's not that,"_ Thomas told him in between bouts of laughter, _"but I remember one time before, when I was still an engine and I ran out of water when I was crossing a bridge over a river. My driver tied a length of rope to a bucket and used it to fetch water up from the river to put into my tank, but the bucket had five holes in it, and it took a lot of bucketfuls for me to have enough water to carry on, but anyway, it wasn't long after we set off again that I had to stop because something was blocking the water from getting through to my injectors. _

_"My fireman walked down the track to an emergency phone and told Sir Topham Hatt that I was stuck, and he flew in Harold, the helicopter we have on Sodor, to where I was broken down, and when he climbed up to look into my tank, he was so shocked he couldn't believe his own eyes. He had to ask both my driver and fireman to look in my tank to confirm what he'd seen. Then they tied some hooks made out of bent wire onto some pieces of string, tied the string to some sticks, and dropped the hooked ends into my tank. After what seemed like ages, they stopped, cheering at the same time."_

"_Why did they stop?"_ asked Jones, _"and what were they cheering for?"_

"_They stopped,"_ chuckled Thomas as he recalled the scene in his mind, _"they stopped because they'd each all caught a fish in my water tank! The fireman hadn't noticed that when tipped the bucket into my tank, it wasn't only water that went in! He'd scooped the fish up out of the river with the bucket! Anyway, they lit a fire beside the track and Sir Topham then cooked the fish to eat with some chips that my fireman got from a chip shop in the next town, though I never, ever imagined that, one day, I'd be eating fish and chips myself!"_

_"That's a delightful story,"_ said Jones the Steam, chuckling as they neared Mrs. Thomas' establishment, which, being a fish and chip shop, made Thomas burst into laughter all over again.

As they sat down to eat their food, Jones looked over to Thomas and asked, _"Why didn't your usual driver and fireman come with you on your task?"_

"_Because,"_ Thomas replied, _"Sir Topham had all the engine crews looking after the former trains, so he asked me and James to drive Edward. Jeanie came with us to deal with any people we met. She's been really useful. She's helped Sir Topham with the translation which led us to get the water from Glastonbury and then to come here. Sir Topham will really be pleased with her help."_

"_Well,"_ said Jones, picking up his empty plate and placing it on top of the one that Thomas had used, _"Now, Ivor and I can go and help you with your task. Come on, let's get back to Llaniog."_

As they journeyed back to Llaniog Station, Jones the Steam said to Thomas, _"It must be fun for you back on Sodor, what with all the other engines to talk to. Ivor often gets lonely here, being the only locomotive for miles around."_

"_Yes, it is fun,"_ Thomas replied, _"though it can get rather busy at times, what with something going wrong somewhere most of the time, but we all get help from the other engines when that happens. Even some of the diesels will help us steamies, even though we normally argue with them."_

"_Why do you argue with them?"_ Jones asked.

"_They always look down at us steamies and call us names,"_ said Thomas. _"It was one of the diesels that almost killed Lady the last time she lost her magic."_

Thomas cast his mind back to the time when Diesel 10 had been chasing him and Lady when she had first come to Sodor. He shivered as he remembered the moment when the creaky bridge had started to crumble and fall into the river below. It was good fortune indeed that both he and Lady weren't as heavy as Diesel 10 or they could have ended up in the river themselves.

"_Diesels do have their uses, you know,"_ Jones said to him, interrupting his memories. _"It's something you all have to accept, but it wouldn't be any good sending a diesel up here to work where there are a lot of tight bends in the mountains, and their air horns would be no good in the choir, either!"_

"_What do you mean?"_ asked Thomas, confused.

"_Well,"_ said Jones, _"you see Ivor's three pipes? Well, years ago, he only had the one whistle, and he really wanted to sing in The Grumbley and District Choral Society, but when Evans the Song, my wife's uncle, you know, gave him a trial, it was the wrong voice. Evans said that Ivor's whistle was a minor half-tone and very crude, and that he needed a bass A or an A flat for the choir. Anyway, we eventually came across a fairground steam organ that wasn't being used anymore, and we used some of the pipes from that to give Ivor a new voice. Ever since then, he's been a regular singer in the choir. Indeed, Mr. Williams, the owner of the railway, came down to hear Ivor sing in his very first practise. Very proud of him he was, was Mr. Williams."_

"_Wow!"_ exclaimed Thomas. _"We have a brass band on Sodor that played at Lady Hatt's birthday party once,"_ but Thomas didn't want to tell his new friend that he'd accidentally left the band's tuba player behind when he'd been sent to pick them up. No, that was too embarrassing a moment to share. Instead, he concentrated on what Jones had told him about accepting that both kinds of engine had their use. That had been shown, Thomas recalled, when the new airport was being built on Sodor, and how, after they'd been fighting amongst themselves and wrecked everything, they'd managed to work together, even Diesel 10, to repair the cracked runway so that a plane could land safely. If only that was the case all of the time rather than just some of the time when all their very futures were threatened, he thought to himself.

They arrived back at Llaniog at ten to twelve and, as Jones went into the office to tell Dai Station that he'd done all the jobs, Thomas walked over to see Edward, only to find both James and Jeanie giving the blue engine's metalwork a rub down with some cleaning rags.

_"You two look very busy, there!"_ he called over. _"It's good to see you nice and shiny again, Edward."_

_**~Thank you, Thomas. How was your morning?~**_

_"It was very interesting. Jones and Ivor are really lucky to work amongst such beautiful scenery."_

_"Thomas!"_ Jeanie called. _"About time, too! Listen, we can get the coal we need and, hopefully, top up Edward's tender as well, lest we end up getting stuck somewhere. Dai Station said that Jones and Ivor will have to take us to see this Idris fellow as he's a bit fussy over who he meets. Has Jones said anything to you about him?"_

"_Well,"_ said Thomas, _"only that he's very particular about who he meets. He seems to think that there shouldn't be any problem, though."_

_"That's good to know,"_ said Jeanie, _"also, we can use the empty coal truck that Ivor brought back, so you'll have to couple it to Edward before we go."_

_"Okay,"_ said Thomas. _"I'll go and tell Jones."_

_**~Who's Idris, James?~**_ asked Edward.

_"Jeanie says he's an expert on dragons,"_ James replied.

_**~Dragons?~**_said Edward, shocked at what he was hearing. _**~I know Sir Topham told us to come here, but...they're not real, are they?~**_

_"Jeanie!"_ called James. _"Edward wants to know if dragons are real."_

_"No,"_ said Jeanie, smiling. _"They only appear in books and fantasy films...and on flags. Tell him not to worry, he won't see any real dragons here!"_

oooOOOooo


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Sam Browning and Lawrence Harrington sat in Sir Topham's office, shocked at what they'd just been told.

_"What this man claims has been confirmed?"_ Lawrence asked Sir Topham.

_"Yes,"_ said Sir Topham. _"I received a call from my lawyer this morning. He's made his own enquiries and everything Tiberius told me is true. He is indeed my half-brother."_

Since that fateful meeting last Sunday, Sir Topham had done nothing but think of the possible implications of having another relation, especially one with Hatt blood running through his veins, become involved in the running of his railways, and, taking into consideration the ominous warning that Tiberius had given him regarding the fate of the former engines, it wasn't looking good at all. It seemed that the man didn't really have the former engines' best intentions at heart.

_"What if Miss Watkins doesn't manage to find out what we need to know,"_ said Sam, _"and we can't get the engines and stock back? Do we move them all over to the mainland? Would they even be safe there?"_

_"That won't work,"_ said Sir Topham. _"If it appears that I'm failing in my family's role to provide a railway service to the people of Sodor, it won't be long before the Council start asking me awkward questions, questions I don't really have an answer for, and I don't want to risk any other trains coming to work here and falling ill."_

_"Edward seemed fine when he came back from Barrow, didn't he?"_ asked Lawrence. _"Maybe whatever changed them in the first place has gone."_

_"He was here for less than two days,"_ retorted Sir Topham. _"We don't know yet that it IS safe, after all, we've got nothing really to measure it by, and apart from that, bear in mind that the whole island was affected. I haven't heard anything from Misty Island at all, so I'm fearing the worst there."_

_"Knowing those three,"_ Sam said dryly, thinking of Bash, Dash and Ferdinand, _"they've probably gone native and wandered off into the woods or something. Who knows what they're up to now?"_ he asked rhetorically.

_"That reminds me,"_ said Sir Topham, _"Lawrence, when you get the chance, you'll have to go over there in Harold and check on them. I've been so tied up here trying to sort this mess out that I've let a few things slip."_

_"Yes, will do, Sir Topham,"_ said Lawrence.

_"So, what,"_ said Sam, then, _"we just give in to him and give him the railways? Just like that?"_

_"I may have no other choice,"_ said Sir Topham ruefully. _"I can't let them all die, and he said that he could cure them, but at what cost? Can you, Sam, Lawrence, willingly doom the engines to an unknown fate? I can't, and I doubt I'd ever be able to sleep again if I did!"_

_"That engineer fellow from the States,"_ said Lawrence, _"how is he, now? Does he know anything that can help us?"_

_"Peregrine went over earlier to pick him up,"_ said Sir Topham. _"They should be back here any time soon,"_ he added, glancing up at his wall clock. _"Now that he's more himself again, I might be able to get some sense out of him."_

_"I hope so,"_ said Sam, reaching over to where he'd placed his tea cup on Sir Topham's desk, _"I really bloody hope so!"_

ooo

After he'd topped up Edward's water and built up his boiler pressure, the blue engine slowly rolled forward to allow Jones the Steam to couple him up to the empty coal truck that Ivor had brought back from Grumbley Gasworks. Now with Ivor in front and Jeanie accepting Jones' offer of riding in the cab with him, Thomas and James climbed aboard Edward, and, with the wagon containing the water drums behind him and Toad the brake van at the end of their formation, they set off for Smoke Hill.

Edward was glad that he didn't have to do all the work now that Ivor was helping them. He'd been having a lovely chat with the little green engine and had been surprised to learn that Ivor was older than even _him_! The little engine, it transpired, had worked in the mountains ever since he'd been made, and had never been away from North Wales. Ivor had also told him about how much he enjoyed singing in the Grumbley and District Choral Society, and Edward, in return, told him of the time when some of the Sodor engines had helped the Island's brass band with _their_ music, then the two engines had a go at singing together as they puffed along, much to the consternation of their passengers as, unfortunately, Edward's whistle couldn't produce the varied notes that Ivor's three brass pipes could, and so they returned to simply swapping tales of their past escapades.

As the engines quietly chatted together, Jones said to Jeanie as he pointed out of Ivor's cab to their left, _"You see that mansion behind those trees over there, well, that's where Mrs Porty lives."_

_"Who's she?"_ asked Jeanie, seeing the roof of a large house behind a small woods.

_"Technically, she's the real owner of The Merioneth and Llantisilly Rail Traction Company Limited,"_ said Jones. _"When the line was threatened with nationalisation all those years back, she feared that it would be shut down by Doctor Beeching, and so she bought it and gave it to Mr Williams, the former manager, to run."_

_"She must be very rich to have done that,"_ said Jeanie, _"and quite old by now, surely? From what I've learnt about the railways from Sir Topham, all that happened over fifty years ago, yes?"_

_"Aye,"_ said Jones, _"and she is getting on a bit now, though, and getting quite eccentric as well. She likes her bottle of port, she does, and her hats!"_

_"Her hats?"_ asked Jeanie, looking somewhat perplexed at Jones.

_"Yes,"_ he said, grinning back at her. _"She buys lots of hats, and she even gets one sent to her every week from a shop in London."_

_"Oh,"_ said Jeanie, _"I see. Is she married?"_

_"Not any more,"_ said Jones. _"Her husband died a few years ago. She gets rather lonely these days, but she's very happy to see Ivor whenever we pass her house, and he always says hello to her when she's working in her gardens in front of her mansion. We'll see if she's there in a bit when we pass by."_

As they passed the copse of trees shielding the mansion and drew level with it, Jeanie strained to see if Mrs Porty was indeed outside in her gardens, but couldn't see her.

_"She must be inside,"_ said Jones, not seeing the old lady, either. _"It is a bit chilly today to do any weeding. Never mind, Miss Jeanie, we'll be at Smoke Hill in about twenty minutes once we get up the climb."_

_"Will this Idris fellow be in, do you think?"_ asked Jeanie. _"I don't know what we'll do if we don't get to speak to him."_

_"We'll have to see when we get there,"_ said Jones. _"Sometimes he's there, sometimes he's not, especially if his children want to go out and play. They're twins, you know, Gaian and Blodwen. Ivor and I usually park up on the old mountain tunnel line whenever we want to chat with him. Hey, don't look so glum, Miss Jeanie,"_ Jones then said, seeing the sad look on the young woman's face, _"besides, if his wife Olwen sees us waiting, she'll come over and see us. She can tell you what you want to know just as well as Idris, as long as she's at home, that is."_

_"She's a dragon expert as well, I take it?"_ asked Jeanie, raising an eyebrow.

_"Oh, yes,"_ said Jones with a slight smirk on his face, _"she knows just as much about dragons as Idris does!"_

Jeanie puzzled over the engine driver's odd-looking smile. She hoped there wasn't any sort of misunderstanding going on between them, especially after travelling all this way to North Wales. They could have been back home in Knapford by now if Sir Topham hadn't sent them here, she thought, and even _he_ didn't know what they would find once they got here! Their only clue was what the elderly man at Glastonbury had told her and Thomas about dragon energy lines. Maybe there were some of those energy lines up here as well, she silently wondered.

_"What sort of house do they live in?"_ she asked Jones a minute later, picturing a ramshackle cottage standing on the side of a hill with a tree or two nearby, a rickety stone wall running around the cottage and a wooden gate to let people in, sheep grazing in the surrounding fields and her impression of a hardy-looking man walking by with his excited children as they went off to play a game somewhere, with an equally hardy-looking woman hanging out washing on a clothes line for the never-ending mountain winds to blow dry.

_"They, er, don't live in a house,"_ he said, _"not since they upset Mrs Griffith, the Chairwoman of the local Antiquarian Society."_

_"What do they live in, then?"_ asked Jeanie, her mental image of a cottage being replaced by a seedy caravan resting on four piles of bricks.

_"They, er, live in the bottom of Mr Dinwiddy's gold mine,"_ said Jones sheepishly.

_"A GOLD MINE?"_ exclaimed Jeanie. _"I never knew there were gold mines in Wales, or in Britain."_

_"Oh, there are a few here and there,"_ said Jones, feeling glad that the subject had changed away from Idris and his housing problem. _"There's an old Roman one in Dolaucothi in Carmarthenshire, and there's been geologist fellows searching in Dolgellau for gold as well. I've heard that there's a lot of it to be found there, apparently, and quite good gold it is too!"_

_"I didn't knew that,"_ said Jeanie, never having been really interested in British history.

_"...and it's gold from Dolaucothi that the Royal Family use for their wedding rings,"_ she heard Jones say as she glanced about at the hills and mountain around her.

_"Does this Mr...Dinwiddy, you say, find much gold?"_ she asked.

_"Oh, yes,"_ said Jones, chuckling. "_He finds so much of it, he says he has to put it back into the ground!"_

Jeanie didn't know whether Jones was pulling her leg or not, and just replied with a quiet, _"Oh!"_, but then Jones said, _"Some of the local people around here think the hill is actually made of the stuff. I've often seen him on the path alongside the track with lumps of it in his wheelbarrow. I don't know where he puts it, though."_

Jones the Steam then frowned, realising that, in all the years he'd know the eccentric gold prospector, he'd never actually asked him what he did with his gold.

_"He must be stinking rich, then,"_ said Jeanie.

_"You wouldn't think so, looking at him,"_ replied Jones, _"though he does buy new boots quite often!"_

Jeanie chuckled, picturing a middle-aged man in miner's overalls, a safety helmet on his head and raggedy old boots on his feet, then her thoughts returned to his "lodgers".

_"So, this Idris guy and his family live in a gold mine, then,"_ she said. _"What is it, a cave in a tunnel somewhere?"_

_"Er, yes,"_ said Jones, _"something like that."_

Jeanie then imagined herself walking along a mine shaft and coming across a family living rough inside a side cave, using some straw and old mattresses for bedding, empty crates for seats around an even bigger crate that they used for a table, and candles and oil lamps so that they could see in the dark.

_"I can't imagine them enjoying living like that, though,"_ she said to Jones.

_"On the contrary,"_ replied Jones, smiling, _"they're really quite happy there, aren't they, Ivor?"_

_"BrrrP!"_

_"It was something they were forced to do,"_ said Jones, feeling he had to defend his friends' reasoning. _"You see, Mrs Griffith tried to, er, have them moved to Wrexham to live, but Mr Dinwiddy told Idris about part of his mine that would be, er, warm enough for them to live in, and so he used some of his dynamite to make an entrance for them."_

_"WHAT?"_ Jeanie asked incredulously. _Just who ARE these people?_ she wondered, turning to stare out of Ivor's cab as they travelled alongside the fields behind Mrs Porty's mansion.

_"Oh, yes,"_ said Jones, seemingly to himself, _"he loves a good blast, does Mr Dinwiddy!"_

ooo

_"Hello, Peregrine,"_ said Sir Topham, _"and Burnett, welcome back to the land of the living,"_ he added, smiling. _At last,_ he thought as he stood up to shake the engineer's hand, _something I can be pleased about._ _"Please, I'd like to introduce you to Sam Browning and Lawrence Harrington,"_ he continued, gesturing to the two seated men who then stood up and offered their hands to the American engineer. _"Respectively, they are the managers of the diesel and steam engine repair works here on Sodor, and also Sodor Railway Directors, as is Peregrine. Gentlemen, Burnett Stone, Lady's driver and engineer."_

Greetings made and a fresh brew of tea later, their discussions eventually reached a hiatus as they each contemplated possible but unlikely scenarios, trying to somehow come up with a plan to thwart whatever scheme or plan Tiberius Hatt may have. Burnett had told Sir Topham several times that he be wanted to return to Shining Time Station and Muffle Mountain to do what he could for his friends there, but Sir Topham had disagreed, arguing that he should stay on Sodor until he was completely recovered.

_"What if you fall ill again?"_ he asked the engineer. _"You'd be on your own there with no-one to help you. You could die there and we'd be none the wiser!"_

_"What if you went with him, Sir Topham?"_ suggested Peregrine.

_"Are you after my job already, Perry?"_ Sir Topham asked him, chuckling. _"You want me to breathe that foul smoke and end up in the bed Burnett just left empty in St Tibba's?"_

_"No, Sir Topham,"_ chuckled Peregrine, _"but if you both use the protective clothing and breathing apparatus that firemen use, you should be fine when you get there, as long as you don't run out of air, that is."_

_"Now, that's an excellent idea, Perry,"_ said Sir Topham, deciding that it was indeed about time he saw for himself what had happened to the magical engine the railways depended on, _"and, Burnett, we're only going to Muffle Mountain and checking on Lady. I know you want to go to the station, but I doubt we'll have time to do that as well."_

Burnett sighed and replied, _"I understand, Sir Topham. How are we getting there, though? Have you got enough Sparkle left to take us to the magical buffers and through to Lady?"_

Sir Topham took the whistle out from his pocket and shook it by his ear. _"Hmm, I don't know. Here, you check, seeing as you've used it more often than I have."_

Burnett took the whistle from Sir Topham, shook it by his ear and then nodded. _"There's enough left to get us both there and back through the portal, but I doubt there's enough to get us to the portal as well."_

_"Well, in that case,"_ said Sir Topham, smiling, _"maybe we can take a page out of Diesel Ten's book. He came up with a rather good idea we can use!"_, then he laughed at the look of shock that appeared on Burnett's face at the mention of the man's most hated engine.

ooo

The former engine in question was currently sitting in the station café with Reginald Swype, the driver of Bulgy the bus, who was part of the rail replacement service and was waiting outside with the other buses and coaches.

As the two men took a break from their whispered planning, Diesel 10 reflected on his involvement with Tiberius Hatt and the plump, sullen-looking bus driver sitting opposite him. He knew he couldn't back out at this stage or he'd be in serious trouble with the scheming welshman. _The only thing I can do now,_ he thought to himself, _is to stay silent and see how it goes. Sir Topham insists we work with the steamies, but I can't see that working out. There's too much animosity amongst us to let bygones be bygones, and the-, _but a loud shout from outside cut off his pondering as the two men both turned their heads to the window to see what was going on.

_"STOP THAT, YOU TWO, AND COME HERE! I'VE GOT A JOB FOR YOU!"_

It was Sir Topham, shouting at his two minions who had been standing on the track and throwing rail ballast at each other in some sort of points game.

The two former shunting diesels dropped the stones they were holding and walked over to where Sir Topham and Burnett were standing just a few feet away from the pump trolley.

_"I want you two to take Burnett and myself to the magical buffers. We're going over to Muffle Mountain to check on Lady, but we need to stop as near as we can to the Fire Station. I need to borrow some equipment from them."_

_"Yes, Sir Topham, Sir,"_ they chorused, and climbed onto the trolley to wait for the two men to board as well.

_"Go steady, now, please,"_ Sir Topham told them, _"as Burnett hasn't long come out of hospital."_

_"It'll be as you say, Sir Topham,"_ said Dodge. _"Ready, Splatter?"_

_"Ready, Dodge,"_ his friend replied.

_"Let's go!"_

The pump trolley started to move, slow at first before gradually picking up speed until it left the station and was out of sight.

Despite his doubts, Diesel 10 smirked.

ooo

_"I think we might have a bit of a problem,"_ Jones said to Jeanie as they neared the junction for Smoke Hill.

_"What's the matter?"_ she asked.

Jones looked apologetically at her, and said, _"I know Dai Station said for us to go to Smoke Hill first, and he was right in his thinking, but I don't know how long we'll be there for. I don't think he knows that the Pit is shutting down early today for the retirement party they're having in Llanmad for Rhodryr the Pump."_

_"What do you think we should we do now, Jones?"_ said Jeanie, fearing that if they failed to get the Welsh coal that could help save Lady then it would look bad on her when they got back to Sodor.

_"I think we should get the coal first, as it's more or less the same distance whichever way we go,"_ he replied. _"Besides, with Edward pushing from behind, Ivor'll have no problem with the extra weight, will you Ivor?"_

_"BRRpp!"_ said the engine, the indignant tone of his reply quite apparent to even Jeanie, which made her giggle.

_"Okay,"_ she agreed. _"We'll get the coal first, then, but I hope we won't miss seeing this Idris, or even Olwen if we have to."_

_"If they're all out somewhere at the moment,"_ said Jones, _"they should be back by the time we get round to Smoke Hill later."_

_"I hope you're right,"_ said Jeanie, doubtfully.

Jones ensured that the points were switched onto the correct track and they set off to Pugh's Pit.

ooo

Diesel watched from a distance as the two green-coated former steamies approached the former troublesome trucks, grunting moodily as the plump, waddling man that Duck had become remonstrated with them. _So, nothing's changed as far as HE'S concerned,_ thought the black-clad former shunting engine. _Acting high and mighty as though he knows everything and showing off to his friend! _

Remembering when he'd first arrived on Sodor and the shit he'd received from the former Great Western engine, Diesel nodded his head, vowing to himself that the self-righteous fool was going to get what he deserved.

ooo

They arrived at the coal mine twenty minutes later and Jones and Jeanie went over to the admin block to look for the owner, Pugh. Inside, they were directed by one of the miners to a door with "MANAGER" printed on it. After Jones knocked on the door a couple of times, a voice called from inside, _"Dod I mewn! Come in!"_

Jones opened the door and he and Jeanie went inside.

It was a small office and a thin-faced man was sitting behind a desk drinking something from a large enamel mug. He was dressed in black overalls and a donkey jacket with a large fluorescent orange patch on the back. He had a cloth cap on his head that failed to hide his bushy eyebrows and, as he put his mug down on his desk and wiped some spilled liquid from his lips with the back of his hand, a patch of coal dust was left on his face.

_"Well, if it isn't Jones the Steam,"_ said Pugh, smiling. _"What brings you here, then, bach? Heard about our party in the Ddraig Goch this afternoon, eh? Are you coming to see old Rhodryr off?"_

_"If I finish in time,"_ said Jones. _"I'm helping this young lady with an important task this afternoon, so I'll have to see how the time goes."_

_"Er, Mr Pugh?"_ said Jeanie, _"I'm Jeanie Watkins, and I believe Dai Station has spok-"_

_"Just Pugh, fach,"_ said Pugh, interrupting her. _"'Misters' are for coal board officials, this is a private mine and I'm just one of the lads here. Now, Miss Watkins, I believe you're after some coal, is that right?"_

_"Er, yes,"_ said Jeanie. _"Dai also said the railway company will pay for it."_

_"That's no problem, Miss. Have you got a truck with you, Jones, or do you want to borrow one of mine?"_

_"No,"_ said Jones. _"I've got an empty truck behind Ivor."_

_"Right you are, then, Jones,"_ said Pugh, then, looking up to the young woman, he said, _"Right, Miss Watkins, how much do you want?"_

_"Er, how much do you think we should get, Jones,"_ she asked him, not really having a clue as to how much the magical engine needed.

_"Better to have a truckful and not need it all than not have enough,"_ he replied to her, _"and your boss is paying us back for it at the end, isn't he?"_

_"Er, yeah,"_ she agreed. _"How much will the truck hold?"_

_"We'll have sixteen tons of your fine anthracite, please, Pugh,"_ Jones said, turning to the seated man, and asking for the legal maximum the coal truck was allowed to carry.

_"There we are, then, Jones,"_ said Pugh, filling in a job sheet and handing it to the short engine driver, _"all sorted! Now, when you finish your task, don't forget our party. They've had a special delivery of Felinfoel Double Dragon just for us!"_

_"Ooh,"_ said Jones, looking excited. _"I don't want to miss THAT! I'll definitely see you later, then, Pugh. Bye for now, oh, and make sure to leave some of that beer for ME, will you?"_

_"Of course we will,"_ said Pugh, chuckling, _"as long as you're not TOO late, that is."_

Jeanie looked oddly at Pugh as the two men joked with each other. _Double Dragon? What's that all about? Don't say we're going to end up having to get some of that beer and get Lady pissed drunk to get her magic back?_ She tried to hide her grin as she heard the mine owner speaking to her.

_"Sign this sheet for the coal, Miss,"_ said Pugh, wondering what the young woman was finding funny, _"then you can go and collect it. Jones knows what to do."_

Jeanie shook her head to clear her mind of an inebriated steam engine and signed for the truckload of coal, then followed Jones out of the office. Once outside, she asked him, _"What did he mean when he said 'Double Dragon'?"_

_"Oh, that,"_ said Jones. _"It's a beer from South Wales. Very nice it is, too!"_

_"Oh, I see,"_ said Jeanie. _"I thought...no, it's all right. I don't know what I was thinking. Just surprised when I heard him mention dragons, that's all."_

_"It's just the name of the beer,"_ said Jones. _"You'll find lots of businesses in Wales having the word "dragon" in their name, as its on our national flag, you know."_

_"Yeah,"_ said Jeanie. _"Finding that out was what brought us up here in the first place."_

They then made their way back to where Ivor and the others were waiting and, once Ivor uncoupled the empty coal truck from Edward, he pushed it onto the weighbridge under the chute ready for it to be filled with coal.

ooo

Watching the group of former trucks running out from the toilets after they'd yet again blocked the plugholes in the wash basins and left the taps running, their mocking laughter and giggles ringing in his ears, Diesel slowly nodded his head. _Yeah, you bunch of pricks,_ he thought, _run and laugh now, you little fuckers, because after tonight, and for the trouble you got me into on my first day here, you're not going to be able to run anywhere for a long time! _

ooo

It wasn't long after they'd left Pugh's Pit that they came upon another set of points. This time, though, they'd been travelling in reverse with Toad the brake van leading, and, as they passed Llanmad, a small village nestled in a low valley on their right, they came to a left-hand bend in the track. As they rounded the bend, Jones said to Jeanie, pointing up the side of a small but steep hill, _"If you look up there, you can just see the entrance to Mr Dinwiddy's Gold Mine."_

Edward's whistle then gave a little "Peep!" and Ivor responded with a "Brrp!" and the engines brought the train to a halt. Jones then leant out of the little engine's cab for a moment, looking along the trackside and wondering what was the matter. Then he saw the reason the engines had stopped.

_"In fact,"_ he said, drawing Jeanie's attention from her upward gaze and contemplation about strange people living on, or rather, inside mountains, _"that's him over there. HELLO MR DINWIDDY! HAVING A SPOT OF TROUBLE, ARE YOU?"_

Jeanie leant out of the cab and peered over Jones' shoulder, and saw, at the bottom of the hill they were passing, from which a twisting path led down to met the track, a very old-looking man with a longish white beard standing next to an upturned barrow with a broken wheel next to it. A pick, a shovel, a flask and a lumpy sack had fallen out of the barrow and were laying on the ballast stones. The man was wearing a faded tweed jacket and trousers with leather patches on the jacket's elbows, and string or twine, she thought, was tied around his knees. He also had a tall, faded red hat on his head and his boots, well, they looked about due to be replaced pretty soon, she reckoned, and, deciding to be friendly, she gave him a gentle wave. _"Hi!"_ she called out.

_"PRYNHAWN DA, JONES THE STEAM, YOUNG LADY!"_ the old man called back. _"I'M FINE, THANK YOU VERY MUCH, BUT MY POOR WHEELBARROW ISN'T! I COULD DO WITH A LIFT, IF YOU PLEASE, JONES THE STEAM?"_

_"RIGHT-OH!"_ said Jones, jumping down onto the trackside and walking over to him. _"You can have a ride inside the brake van over there. It's got a nice fire going inside, it has,"_ he added, pointing to the smoke rising up out of the van's chimney.

_"JAMES,"_ Jones then called, _"CAN MR DINWIDDY HERE PUT HIS THINGS IN YOUR DROP-SIDE, PLEASE? HE NEEDS A LIFT WITH US."_

_"OF COURSE,"_ James answered, climbing down from Edward's cab to lend a hand.

Jones helped Mr Dinwiddy up into Toad while James loaded the fallen items into the drop-side, placing the barrow upside-down over them to protect them in case it rained later.

_"We're only going as far as Smoke Hill,"_ Jones said to Mr Dinwiddy as the old man warmed his hands over the little stove. _"Where were you going to?"_

_"That's just where I was going,"_ replied Mr Dinwiddy. _"I've got some more gold to bury. I was coming down the hill path and lost my grip on the barrow. It rolled all the way down and the wheel came off when it hit the sleepers!"_

_"Only you, Mr Dinwiddy,"_ chuckled Jones to his friend, _"only you!"_

_"Gawd,"_ said Jeanie to Ivor's driver as he climbed back up into the cab, _"just how old is he?"_

_"I've never asked him,"_ said Jones, smiling, _"though some people reckon he's as old as old Ivor, here. What do YOU think, Ivor?"_

_"Brr-Rrp!_

_"What did he say?"_ asked Jeanie.

_"He said he can't remember a time when he WASN'T seen around here,"_ said Jones, shovelling some coal into the little engine's firebox.

ooo

Reginald Swype looked across the café table at the man sitting opposite him, wondering what was going through the former diesel engine's mind. He'd received a message from Hatt's half-brother when he got back to the bus depot late last night and, after phoning in sick this morning, had driven to Brendham eager to hear how their plan was progressing. It simply wasn't something that could be discussed over the phone, no, not with that man, thought Reginald. He'd learnt in the past that the only way you could be sure that you weren't being lied to was to look a man in the face as you talked with him, and now, after eating the last of his fried bacon and egg, his third breakfast that morning, he thought of the meeting he'd had earlier with his fellow plotter...

_"I've given him the ultimatum,"_ said Tiberius, before sipping some of his tea.

_"How'd he react?"_ Reginald asked, idly rolling a sausage across his plate with his fork.

_"As you'd expect, surprised, shocked, angry. I think he'll fold. He won't want to risk losing them like that."_

_"And if he doesn't? What then? He'll know you were bluffing and then where will we be?"_

Tiberius smiled at his fellow conspirator and said, _"Then, we move onto Plan B!"_

_"What's this Plan B of yours?"_

_"You don't need to know about that, Reg. What you don't know can't come back and bite you in the arse. The only thing you need to think about is how much work will be coming your way when the new Sodor Roadways are open and your shiny new buses are taking people all over the island. Just think, no more traffic lights to delay you, no cars blocking your way, and no more trains taking away your passengers! Just think of the tolls we can charge motorists who don't want to be stuck in traffic jams on the Island's narrow town roads. We'll make a fortune!"_

Of course, he couldn't tell Diesel 10 anything about the Roadways plan, only that things were going as scheduled. The last thing the former diesel could know was that he'd be one of the first engines to be scrapped should Sir Topham actually manage to save their magical engine and Tiberius be forced to take some other action or whatever it was he had as a back-up plan.

ooo

Once they'd passed Mr Dinwiddy's hill, Edward called over to Ivor, _**~There's the start of a pretty steep gradient up ahead, I think you'll need my help to get up it.~**_

_"Brrp!"_ replied Ivor, and both James and Jones built up the engines' fireboxes to increase their boiler pressure, after all, Ivor had never been part of such a heavy rack before and, being a little engine, would need some assistance.

Edward felt his boiler pressure rise with the extra heat from his firebox and began to huff hard in order to help his new friend up the steep climb to Smoke Hill, his pistons and cylinders straining as he started pumping powerfully and everyone felt an increase in the trains' speed.

_"Brrp!"_ said Ivor.

_**~My pleasure,~**_ replied Edward, though he wasn't really happy with himself just then, for his coupling rod was aching pretty regularly now. Still, he decided to persevere on, after all, he thought, he had to help his friends with their task no matter the difficulty he faced or how much it hurt him.

_"As we go further up this climb and round the bend,"_ Jones said to Jeanie, _"on the right-hand side, you'll see the top of Smoke Hill start to rise up behind that hill over there, and the higher we get, the more it looks like it's growing bigger as though it's bursting out of the hill. It's a breath-taking thing to see for the first time!"_

_"I'll definitely have to see that, then,"_ said Jeanie, smiling in anticipation.

She'd enjoyed seeing the wide range of scenery they'd travelled through since leaving Sodor, and felt pleased whenever they'd come across something out of the ordinary, and from what Jones the Steam had just said to her, what she was going to see soon was probably one of those things that could only be seen if you were in just the right place at just the right time.

_"Once we're over the top,"_ Jones said, then, breaking Jeanie out of her reverie, _"we'll see the whole of Smoke Hill. It's an extinct volcano, you know."_

_"Really?"_ said Jeanie in surprise. _"I know Ben Nevis in Scotland used to be a volcano, but I never knew there were any others in Britain."_

_"There are a few,"_ said Jones, _"but they've been extinct for millions of years."_

Jeanie felt she'd learnt quite a lot of things over the past few days, and was eager to hear more from the knowledgeable engine driver.

_"Yes,"_ he continued, _"Idris' old home was actually inside Smoke Hill at one time, but I found him one day laying next to the track. Nearly unconscious, he was, and I managed to get him inside Ivor's cab to warm him up. He told me that his home inside the volcano had gone cold. Mrs Griffith, before he had his disagreement with her, arranged for the gas board to provided a furnace for him, and everything was fine, then, but then he ran out of half-crowns for the meter, and-"_

_"Half-crowns?"_ said Jeanie. _"What are those?"_

_"Two-and-a-half-shilling coins in old money,"_ said Jones. _"They were what we used before decimalisation back in the seventies. Anyway, I went to Mervyn the Bank to see if he still had some half-crowns in any of his deposit boxes, but he didn't, so we went over to the post office and asked Mrs Williams there if she had some. She said she didn't, but we eventually found some inside an old teapot that she'd forgotten about up on a high shelf, and she let us have them for Idris."_

_"That was kind of her,"_ said Jeanie.

_"Yes,"_ agreed Jones, _"it was, but, then, one day, Mrs Griffith falsely accused Ivor and his family of vandalising a statue of Saint George that stands in Llaniog Square, and she tried to have him, er, evicted and sent to live in Wrexham, instead, and that was when Mr Dinwiddy saved the day. It turned out that there's a volcanic fault underneath his mine that warmed up part of his tunnel system, so now, Idris and his family live with him inside his gold mine, but it's a secret that they're still living up here, and only Mr Dinwiddy, myself, Ivor and Dai Station know about it. You see, when the men came to take Idris and his family away, we told them that they'd gone missing, and so the men went back to where they came from. That's why Idris is wary of strangers and very particular about who he meets."_

_"Will he be willing to meet us?"_ asked Jeanie, fearing that they might have made a wasted journey after all was said and done.

_"He will be when I tell him you're my friends and need to know about dragons to save a magical engine."_

Jeanie felt her hopes rise as she thought of their, hopefully, soon-to-be meeting with the dragon expert. Soon, she thought to herself, they might have the information they needed to save Lady, and, once they got back to Sodor, Sir Topham would then be able to have his engines back as they should be.

_"Once we're down the other side, we'll park up on the old tunnel line and wait there for him. It's about halfway between Mr Dinwiddy's mountain and Smoke Hill, and if he's home, he'll see us and come down for a chat."_

_"Do they get lonely up there?"_ asked Jeanie, _"after all, they've only got Mr Dinwiddy for company, yeah?"_

_"That's right,"_ said Jones, _"but they don't mind the solitude, and he always enjoys it when Ivor and I come and visit him."_

_"I'm sure he does,"_ said Jeanie, thinking that this Idris fellow had what sounded like a very interesting life for someone that lived in a cave with an eccentric old man in a gold mine inside a mountain.

ooo

As the pump trolley rounded the last bend before reaching the magical buffers, Splatter and Dodge started to ease up on their pumping and wait for Sir Topham's instructions, wondering if they were going to be taking a trip along the magical railroad with the two men. Dodge pulled on the trolley's handbrake and brought it to a stop. _That's odd, _he thought to himself._._

Sir Topham, clad in a yellow safety suit, looked at the scene of destruction and gasped in shock. _"They're...they're GONE!"_ he cried.

Stunned into silence, he climbed down off the trolley and walked over to where the buffers were supposed to be. They, as well as about forty foot of railway line, had been pulled up by what looked like heavy plant machinery, judging by the tracks left behind, and then taken away somewhere, for there was nothing left behind for them to gain access to the magical portal. _Who on Earth has done THIS?_

He walked over to where the buffers had once been and wandered back and forth, trying to sense the portal's access point, but found nothing.

_"Burnett,"_ he then called, _"come here and try your whistle. We may still be able to get through."_

Burnett carefully climbed down onto what remained of the track and made his way over to Sir Topham. Taking the whistle out of his pocket as he grabbed onto the railway owner's arm and focused his mind on Lady's cave in Muffle Mountain, he raised it to his lips and blew into it, waiting for the rush of magic that would whisk him and the portly gentleman away. Nothing happened.

_"Bugger!"_ exclaimed Sir Topham, wondering what they could do next.

_"It looks like we won't be seeing Lady, then,"_ said Burnett.

Sir Topham eyed the engineer, deigning not to reply to what the man had just said. Instead, he looked around, trying to find some sort of clue as to who may have done this terrible thing.

ooo

Up the steep climb they went, foot by foot, smoke billowing out of both the engines' funnels as they slowly climbed the steep incline higher and higher into the mountains, Edward puffing hard as he pulled, and Ivor loudly pshhhhtehkooffing as they neared the top of the rise.

Edward, despite his misgivings and aching coupling rod, was feeling rather proud with himself as they reached the summit and, as he gave one last mighty push of his pistons, a loud bang and metallic screeching rent the air and they all came to a sudden stop at the top of the climb. Thomas instantly closed off Edward's regulator and water, applying the engine's brakes as he heard his blue friend cry out, _**~MY COUPLING ROD'S SNAPPED!~**_

ooOOoo

Welsh glossary:

Bach (pronounced like the composer's name) – 'little one', "Dear", a term of endearment for males

Fach (vach) – same as above but for females

Felinfoel – the actual village where Double Dragon is brewed. See link on my profile.

Prynhawn da (prin-ha-wn) - Good afternoon

Y Ddraig Goch ('Uh th-r-aye-g go-ch) - The Red Dragon (The pub in Llanmad) See link on my profile.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Jones the Steam returned from placing warning detonators on the track to alert the train from Llanmad of possible danger ahead, and saw James and Thomas checking the blue engine's running gear for any damage caused by the coupling rod when it broke. Edward had put so much effort into that one last push that the extra strain on the already-weakened rod forced it to fracture horizontally on its weak I-section just a few inches away from where it was connected to his rear drive wheel.

_"Well,"_ said Jones, _"we're stuck here, now, that's for sure, and we can't go back down, either!"_

_"Why not?"_ asked Jeanie. _"Ivor doesn't need Edward's help to go downhill, does he?"_

_"It's not that,"_ said Thomas, _"but we've got no way of stopping that loose rod from digging into the ground and derailing us, and we've got no tools to take it off with, either."_

_"Oh,"_ said Jeanie, frowning. _"What do we do now, then?"_

_"I can uncouple Ivor,"_ said Jones, _"and go back with him to Pugh's Pit to see if they've got any tools we could use, but even if they did have any, we're not strong enough to get that rod off by ourselves, AND there's the crank pins to get out."_

Jeanie looked to Jones, recalling Thomas and James lifting the heavy water barrels a couple of days ago, and said, _"But these two,"_ gesturing to them at the same time, _"should be strong enough. What do you think, Thomas, James?"_ she asked, turning to her friends, _"Could you get those broken bits off if you had the right tools?"_

Thomas looked to James and saw his red-coated friend frown for a few seconds before nodding his head and replying, _"I think we could, but it may be better to get Edward to the mine and work on him there. The trouble is, though, we may cause more damage to his running gear if we tried pulling him. We don't know how much damage his cylinders and piston valves suffered from the sudden compression change."_

Incomprehension spread across Jeanie's face as James spoke of Edward's mechanisms, and then she had a most horrible thought: _We're stuck here now and we can't get back to Sodor. We've failed! _

_**~It's all my fault!~**_ cried Edward, then._**~I should have told you when I first started feeling twinges! Now we won't save Lady and it's all my fault! Sir Topham will send me to the scrap works to be melted down!~**_

_"He won't do that, Edward,"_ said Thomas to reassure the worried engine. _"It was just one of those things. I__t could have happened to any of us__."_

_"What if we use rope?"_ James then asked excitedly.

_"Rope?"_ said Thomas, turning to glare at his red-coated friend. _"How would THAT help us get back to Pugh's? This is not the time to be your old silly self, James!"_

_"For the coupling rod!"_ said James, indignantly. _"The short end's no problem as it's only the long bit that'll have any contact with the ground. We could tie a rope up there,"_ he turned and pointed up to the handrail on Edward's boiler, _"and make some sort of sling to support the loose rod."_

Thomas pondered over the suggestion, then thought it pretty ironic that James, the engine that had once needed Edward to chase after him when his driver had fallen ill and he had become a runaway engine, had now come up with a plan to, in his turn, save his one-time rescuer. He then smiled, and said, _"You know, James, that might just well work. Have we got any rope, though, and what do we use for a sling?"_

_"There's a coil of rope hanging on the wall inside Toad,"_ said James. _"I remember seeing it when we had a cup of tea an some food last night. I'll go and get it and see what else is in there we can use."_

_"James,"_ Jones the Steam called after the red-coated man, _"please check if Mr Dinwiddy is all right in there for me, would you? I think he might have fallen asleep."_

_"Edward,"_ said Thomas, then, _"You know as well as I do that the fitters haven't been giving us our full services. A few weeks ago, I heard Sir Topham talking to them about cutting costs wherever they could, and I think they took his words the wrong way. We're all pretty old, and if they don't take the proper care of us, then we're bound to break down sometime, so don't think the worst of yourself, my friend. You've done brilliantly to get us this far!"_

_**~But I should still have told you!~ **_

_"It's too late to do anything about it now, though,"_ said Thomas. _"We've just got to hope that if James' idea works, we can get you back to Pugh's Pit without damaging you even more!"_

_"Here we are..."_ James called out, returning a couple of minutes later and holding the coil of rope up in his right hand for everyone to see, _"...and we can use this for a sling,"_ he added, gesturing with his head to the chain he was holding close to his chest with his left arm. _"Oh, Mr Jones? The old man is fast asleep on Jeanie's bunk. I was as quiet as I could be so I wouldn't wake him."_

_"Gracious me!"_ Jones exclaimed. _"I'd better go and wake him, then,"_ he added, smiling at the same time, _"or he'll end up back at Pugh's with us, and then he'll be in a right to-do!"_ then, looking at Thomas, he said, _"If this works, we'd better put the trucks' handbrakes on, or we'll end up going too fast down the hill and not be able to stop in time for the points. It's pretty flat then to Pugh's, so Ivor should be able to manage to pull you all. What do you think, Ivor?"_

_"bRRRP!"_

_"There we are, then,"_ said Jones, smiling at his engine friend, _"Ivor agrees with me. Maybe the fitters at the mine can get that broken rod off for you before they leave for the party."_

Thomas and James set about constructing the sling whilst Jones went to wake up Mr Dinwiddy, but, before he walked more than a couple of yards, Jeanie called to him, _"Mr Jones, wait a minute!"_ There was a hint of panic in her voice.

_"Mr Jones,"_ she said when he turned to face her, _"didn't you tell me there's another train due through here sometime this afternoon? What time's it due? If we've got to go slow all the way back down the hill, it might crash into us!"_

_"Oh, dear,"_ said Jones, checking his watch, _"you're right. It'll be here in half an hour, and we'll barely be halfway back to Pugh's junction by then!"_

Taking his cap off and scratching his head, Jones pondered over their new problem for a few moments, then, he looked over to Thomas, and said, _"I wouldn't like to gamble on reaching the junction before that train gets there, especially as slow as we'll be going, but, then again, the branch line for the old tunnel down by Smoke Hill is nearer. We should have enough time to get Edward and the trucks down there, but the problem we'll have there is that they won't all fit on the line, as the tunnel entrance is all boarded up."_

_"Can we open the tunnel and go inside?"_ asked Jeanie. _"The trains, I mean. I can stay outside if I have to." _

_"We'll have to,"_ said Jones, _"but I don't know what it's like in there. They say it's got a weak roof, and everyone stay's away from it. I don't know of anyone that's ever been in there, but, as long as the track inside is clear for the wagons and Edward to get in, they'll be safe from being hit, and if you all wait there, then Ivor and I can run back to Pugh's and see if they've got any tools we can use."_

_"That sounds better than being hit by another train,"_ said Jeanie, _"but, like I said, I can wait outside."_ Seeing Jones the Steam look quizzically at her, she explained, _"I'm a bit claustrophobic."_

_"Oh, I see,"_ said Jones, then, glancing up at the sky, he added, _"by the look of those dark clouds, I think it's going to pour down later, and you'll get soaking wet if you stay outside."_

Jeanie shrugged her shoulders, deciding to deal with that problem when it mattered.

_"So,"_ Jones then continued, _"with your Edward and your wagons staying behind, Mr Dinwiddy won't have so far to walk to get to Smoke Hill when I wake him up!"_

The rope and sling construction seemed to be holding the longest part of the broken rod securely enough and, with Ivor giving a big heave to get them moving, they slowly eased their way down the other side of the gradient. Thomas was manning the handbrake inside Toad while James walked alongside Edward and carefully watched the rod as it moved back and forth and up and down in the chain sling as they crawled down to the old tunnel line.

As they neared the set of points the led to the tunnel, James ran over to switch them over from the main track. Having been greased in the past by Jones for his visits to Idris, they moved quite smoothly, and he signalled for the slow-moving procession to carry on towards the boarded up tunnel entrance. Long planks had been nailed to a brick archway that served as the tunnel's entrance.

Foot by foot, the brakevan's buffers approached the planks, and, when they were about a dozen feet or so away, James shouted for them to stop. Turning back to watch in case the buffers hit the planks, James heard a slight crunching sound from the track underneath the van's leading wheels. Passing it off as maybe a pebble that had been lying on the rail, he smiled. Back when he'd still been an engine, he'd often ran over small stones and coins that children had placed on the track for him to flatten when he ran over them. _Kids!_ he thought. _They're the same everywhere!_ then he noticed that Jones had climbed down from Ivor's cab and was walking over to where he was standing.

_"Where does it lead to, Mr Jones?"_ he asked as the man got nearer, then he turned back round to gaze at the planks blocking their way.

_"Can we go through the tunnel to get somewhere?"_ asked Thomas, calling down from Toad's veranda.

Jeanie, walking over to watch the proceedings, shivered at the thought of having to actually go through the tunnel. She'd had enough of _that_ when they crossed under the Severn Channel a couple of days ago.

_"I don't know,"_ said Jones. _"It's been closed for donkey's years, now, and, to be honest, I don't really know how far into the mountain it goes, but, saying all that, there is a tunnel entrance on the other side of the mountain by Pugh's Pit. I'll have to ask him about it when I get there." _

He then turned to look back up the line, and, seeing that the coal truck and most of Edward were still on the main track, said, _"We'd better get those planks off as quickly as we can."_

_"Have a look in there for a lever or something, please, Thomas,"_ said James. _"We've still not all clear of the points."_

Two minutes later, Thomas came back out with a five-foot crowbar and lowered it down to James. Taking it, James made his way over to the boarded-up entrance and started levering off the old planks, and soon, the tunnel was open for the first time in, as far as Jones the Steam was concerned, forever.

_"It's dark in there,"_ said Jeanie, wrapping her coat tightly around herself.

_"We need to check there's no rubble on the track,"_ said Jones, peering into the tunnel.

_"See if you can find a lantern, please, Thomas,"_ said James. _"I'll go in and check the line."_

It was ten minutes before James re-emerged from the tunnel and told them that apart from a few small boulders on the line just inside, the track was pretty clear. He'd walked for about a hundred yards or so on a gentle downward slope and reckoned that the tunnel roof looked to be stable, though he admitted that it was quite dim in there and he couldn't see the roof all that well. He told them that he'd cleared the rubble on his way back out, and that he'd also seen old oil lamps hanging from the crossbeams held up by tall wooden support columns.

Jones the Steam made his way back over to Ivor and, after Thomas had released the trucks' handbrakes, they slowly rolled the wagons and Edward fully inside the tunnel, leaving just the coal truck outside. To be on the safe side, James re-applied the trucks' handbrakes.

_**~Now I know how Henry felt when he was stuck in his tunnel,~**_ said Edward.

_"Hopefully,"_ said James, chuckling at the memory of his green friend hiding from the rain, _"you won't be in there as long as he was in his!"_

_"Thomas,"_ said Jones, _"I think you'll need to come with us to Pugh's Pit. You'd know better than me if they've got anything that may be of use."_

Jeanie leaned against the brick archway and folded her arms, thinking of the dire situation she was in. She was stuck in the mountains of North Wales with a broken down engine and no conceivable way of getting back home again, not unless they could get hold of another engine from somewhere, that is. She dismissed the thought of asking Jones if Ivor could pull them to Sodor as the engine was _tiny _when compared to Edward, and would _never _be able toget them all that way. _How on earth did I get myself in this stupid mess,_ she asked herself.

_It all started when I stopped for that accident a few days back,_ she thought, _and, since than, I've been involved in one ridiculous event after another, and I've been believing every stupid thing people have told me. Talking trains, my arse! As if! It's as if I've been hypnotised,_ she mused, shaking her head slowly as she pictured Sir Topham in the role of a master hypnotist twisting her mind with his fantastic tale of "magical" railways. _All I need now,_ she told herself, _is to get more hypnotic suggestions from him the next time I phone him, which, luckily for me, isn't going to happen anytime soon, seeing as we're all stuck here!_

Thomas, on hearing Jones the Steam's comment about him knowing better about things being useful, thought of Sir Topham, who certainly knew better than any of the engines as to what was useful or not. His faith in the man was absolute and he would never doubt anything he ever said. As it was, he couldn't help thinking that way, as it was something the railway magic had conditioned him into accepting: that his owner, whomever he or she may be, would always be the ultimate authority in all railway matters. _Sir Topham makes good decisions and he's trusting me with this mission, _he thought to himself, _so I must be able to make good decisions as well!_

_"You're right, Mr Jones,"_ replied Thomas, then, he said, _"and you'll need to come with us as well, Jeanie,"_ looking over to the young woman, noticing also that she looked quite sad, _"and phone Sir Topham to tell him what's happened to us. Cheer up, Miss Jeanie, Mr Jones and I will see if the men at the pit have got any tools we can use and Sir Topham will tell us what we should do next, so you don't need to worry about it!"_

_And there it is,_ thought Jeanie, _the need to make that phone call to Sir Topham! I'll make sure to listen carefully for any hypnotic trigger words, _she told herself, and pushed away from the archway to go over to where Jones the Steam was waiting. _"I suppose so,"_ she said, more to herself than to Thomas. _At least I'll be warmer in the cab than standing out here!"_

_"Ivor'll go much faster now without any trucks to slow him down,"_ said Jones. _"We'll be back at Pugh's in no time, won't we, Ivor?"_

"_Brrp!"_

ooo

Diesel had been waiting inside the washroom's store cupboard for the former troublesome trucks to return, and he'd been standing there silently for almost an hour. Finally, his patience paid off as he heard the snickering and giggling of the "kids" get louder as they approached the washroom building. He'd been nearby when the railway fitters that were babysitting the former trains had been told by the camp's owner that it was up to them to clean up and repair the mess after "those hooligan kids" had "destroyed" the place, otherwise Sir Topham would be getting a hefty invoice for the damage they'd caused. Diesel didn't care about that, though, for his prime concern was getting his own sweet revenge for the years of mischief and trouble the trucks had caused for _him, _and now, his moment had arrived.

Giving them all enough time to enter the washroom, he quickly slipped out of the storeroom and slammed shut the main entrance door, jamming it closed with a broom wedged under the wooden "Z" strengtheners on the inside so that he wouldn't be disturbed by anyone. The former trucks, surprised by the sudden noise, fell silent as they saw who it was that had locked them in, and was now looming over them with the most ferocious look on his face_. "Right, you horrible lot,"_ snarled Diesel as he thumped a fist into the palm of his other hand, _"who's going to get it first?"_

ooo

_"Well, boyo,"_ Pugh said to Thomas as he stood in front of the mine owner's desk with Jones and Jeanie, _"you are in a bit of a to-do, aren't you?"_

_"Yes, Sir,"_ said Thomas, looking rather despondent. _"I don't know how we'll get back to Sodor now."_

_"Hmmm,"_ said Pugh, thoughtfully rubbing at his chin with his coal-streaked fingers as he pondered over what he'd just been told. _"It's a bit of a thing, isn't it, but I think we can help you get that broken rod off. DAFYDD!"_ he then shouted to the group of miners milling about in the outer office.

The man who's name Pugh had called poked his head into the small office and said, worriedly, _"What is it, Pugh? I was just about to change for the party!"_

_"I've got a little job for you, bach. See if you can help out these gentlemen, will you?"_

_"Aw, Pugh! We haven't got long before Gladys comes to pick us up!"_

_"Five minutes you'll be, bach, and it'll be a while before Gladys gets here."_ said Pugh. _"Take Jones and his friend here to the fitting shop and lend them whatever they need to get a broken coupling rod off of their engine, will you, and something for the crank pins as well, yes?"_

_"Oh, okay, then,"_ said Dafydd, sounding relieved. _"Come on, then, Jones, don't dawdle, now, I need to change for Rhodryr's party. Pugh said there's going to be a special surprise for us all, and I can't wait to see them two drag-"_

_"Shush, twpsyn!"_ said Pugh, looking rather alarmed towards the outer office. _"It's supposed to be a secret!"_

After Jones the Steam and Thomas had followed Dafydd outside, Jeanie asked the mine owner if she could borrow his phone to let Sir Topham know what had happened. She wouldn't actually ring him, she explained, until they returned and said whether or not they had the right tools to remove the broken rod.

Pugh smiled at her and said, _"Of course you can, fach. Would you like a cup of tea while you wait for them to return?"_

_"Oh, yes, please,"_ she said, _"Thanks, I'd love one!"_ adding, as an afterthought, _As long as it's not drugged, that is!_

She sipped her tea as she waited an anxious five minutes, and found herself unable to taste anything odd in it, then she waited another five minutes until Jones came back into Pugh's office with some small tools in his arms.

"_You're sure they'll work?"_ she asked him, looking around Pugh's office for somewhere to place her nearly empty mug, finally finding a space next to a couple of yellow safety helmets on top of a dusty metal filing cabinet.

"_We should manage with what we've found,"_ he said, smiling reassuringly at her. _"It's a good job this is a coal mine, as they need similar tools for some of their big machinery. I'll wait outside for you while you phone your boss."_ Then, to the mine owner, he said as he turned to leave the small office, _"Thank you, Pugh. I'll see you later!"_

_"And you, too, Jones the Steam,"_ said Pugh. _"Make sure you're there by eight o'clock!"_

_"I'll try!"_ Jones called back as he went outside to where Thomas was waiting for him.

_Here goes,_ Jeanie thought to herself as she picked up the receiver. _I wonder what he'll say to the mess we're in now! Didn't they used to kill the bearer of bad news back in the old days? Must remember tp watch out for those trigger words!_

ooo

Sir Topham and Burnett Stone arrived back at Knapford and went into the railway owner's office to confer.

_"They're definitely steamroller tracks,"_ said Sir Topham, picking up his phone and buzzing Debra on the intercom.

_"Yes, Sir Topham?"_ her voice called from the speaker.

_"Debra, get me Walter Blake, please."_

_"Right away, Sir Topham."_

Looking to Burnett, Sir Topham said, _"He's the owner of that infernal steamroller, George. He's always carried a grudge against the railways here on Sodor, though I've got no idea why he'd do anything like that. It's pure vandalism, that's what it is, and now there's no other way we can to get to Lady when they get back from Wales."_

_"If we can't save Lady,"_ said Burnett, _"then it's the end of it all, Sir Topham. It's all over!"_

_"I know," _said Sir Topham.

He looked at the melancholic engineer as he waited for Debra to put the call through. All the man had done since they'd discovered the ruined magical portal was bemoan his lot, and it had been quite depressing to listen to his woes. He'd wondered at the time why the engineer never tried to think of solutions instead of problems.

Sir Topham rested his head in his hands, feeling a deep hollowness inside him as he let the engineers last comment sink in. Decades of history suddenly coming to an ignoble end. The engines he'd been friends with for nearly all his life, the faces of each and every engine passing before his mind's eye, their friendly greetings to him, their grumbles, their complaints, their worries, their laughter. He felt a tear leak out from his left eye and wiped it away with the palm of his hand. Now was not the time to allow himself to sink into the same melancholy Burnets Stone was wallowing in, he thought to himself, deciding that he'd rather be in the warm company of his wife tonight when he'd allow _that_ to happen. It was too much a personal thing to reveal such a vulnerability to the engineer, a man he'd known for many years now but wasn't as close to as he was with Percival, Sam or Larry. Instead, he stood up and went over to his filing cabinet to get his bottle of brandy and two small glasses.

_"Burnett?"_ he queried, holding the glasses up in the air.

_"Just a small one, please, Sir Topham,"_ the morose-looking engineer replied. _"I'm on medication now, so I don't want to overdo it."_

Sitting back down and pouring a measure for them both, Sir Topham raised his glass and said, _"Here's to finding some way out of this bloody mess we're in!"_ and swallowed its contents in one go.

_"Here, here!"_ said Burnett, taking just a sip from his glass before putting it down onto Sir Topham's desk. _"How long have we got before...you know?"_ he then asked.

_"Three, four, five days at the most if what that bastard said was correct!"_ said Sir Topham angrily, asking himself why on earth his half-brother had chosen the way he had to get himself involved with the family after so long. Why hadn't Tiberius just simply contacted him one day and explain who he was? _I wouldn't have held it against him, _he told himself, searching for whatever rationalisation he could to justify the decision he knew he was going to have to make if Jeanie and Thomas failed to get the information they needed. It was a decision he didn't want to make, but everything was pointing in that direction. Even if they had everything they needed to save Lady, they now had no way of getting to her in order to save her. She was as good as gone. The only possible recourse now was to believe his half-brother's word that he could revert them all back to their former states, and what would happen then when they were all under his control was anyone's guess. His phone ringing almost made him jump and he quickly picked up the receiver.

_"Sir Topham,"_ Debra's voice said, _"I can't get hold of Mr Blake. His wife says she hasn't seen him since Friday. She thinks he's on the mainland sorting out some new contracts. What do you want me to do?"_

_"Leave it for now, please, Debra, and thank you for trying,"_ Sir Topham said back to her, then he dropped the receiver back into its cradle with a "thunk" and cursed quietly to himself.

_"The little turd's gone away,"_ he said to Burnett. _"Probably hiding from me!"_

_"What about asking that steamroller thing you said he drives?"_ Burnett asked him.

_"That's an idea,"_ said Sir Topham, making a note to himself. _"I'll call in at his shed on my way home tonight. That reminds me, Burnett, you can stay at Hatt Hall if you wish, seeing as you can't get home now."_

_"Thank you, Sir Topham,"_ said the engineer, finally showing something close to a smile. _"It'll be a pleasure to see Lady Hatt again."_

The two men, lost in their own thoughts, sat in silence for a while before Burnett suddenly asked, _"What of your engines, Sir Topham? How are they coping with what's happened to them?"_

Sir Topham sighed, picked up his notepad and turned back a few pages. After skimming over his notes, he began to give Burnett a summary. _"Some are doing well, others...not so. For instance, Henry's gone and got himself a 'foster-son', for want of a better description!"_

_"A foster-son? What do you mean?"_ asked Burnett.

_"One of the former trucks, a young 'boy' that follows him everywhere. Henry's grown rather attached to him. Gordon seems to have recovered well after falling ill at Crovan's Gate that time, though Larry seems to think it's affected his mind in some way as he's acting even more officious and stuffy than ever. He's staying over at the Steam Works at the moment with Victor, and he's treating the men there as though they're servants or something under his command. We still haven't been able to find out why Molly and Neville were affected the way they were. I doubt we ever will, now._

_"Most of the calls we've been getting are complaints from everyone. I've had companies and shops from all over Sodor asking where their goods are. I've, or rather, Debra has been getting calls from passengers asking when will the trains be running again. I've had Geoffrey Travers, the chap that owns the campsites the stock are staying in that the 'kids' at one of the sites are destroying the place, and I've had complaints from parents in Arlesburgh who are worried over the behaviour of the 'midgets' that are giving their young children piggy-backs and having races in the local park. The 'midgets' they speak of,"_ Sir Topham explained, looking ruefully at Burnett, _"used to be the miniature engines that worked there before the change."_

_"So they're smaller than the others?"_ Burnett asked, curious.

_"That's right,"_ said Sir Topham, _"and if you think that's strange, did I ever tell you about the double-ended Fairlie locomotive I bought some time ago?"_

_"No, you didn't, wait...you just said 'double-ended'?"_

_"That's right, I did. We do, now, have a co-joined former engine, one half of which is actually several years older and a foot taller than the other, despite the engines once being the same size! Work THAT one out if you will!"_

_"How are THEY dealing with their change?"_ asked Burnett, shocked at what he'd just heard.

_"Not so well,"_ replied Sir Topham, slowly shaking his head. _"Physically, they're fine, when they stop arguing over which direction they want to walk, that is. Mighty, the eldest, seems to dominate, but Mac, although younger, is just as forceful. On top of that, I've got a neurotic former railcar that's developed a dependency on Diesel Ten of all...people. I haven't seen much of him these last few days, though, other than when he's stuffing food into himself in the café here, so I'm not sure what mischief he's been up to. That pump trolley we were on earlier? He's got those two shunter friends of his driving him around on it all day long as if he's some sort of lord touring his estate!"_

_"Don't trust him, Sir Topham,"_ said Burnett warningly. _"Don't even turn your back on him if you know what's good for you!"_

_"I gave him a bollocking just recently for soaking Thomas and Percy with river water the evening before they all transformed, and I gave him the final warning. He said he'd co-operate from now on."_

_"It's about time, too, if I may say so, Sir Topham,"_ said Burnett.

_"I agree. I've also got a former diesel that's found himself a part-time job on a trawler that's working out of Brendam Docks, two former steamies arrested for brawling in the street, several former tank wagons that can't stop drinking water just so that they don't feel thirsty, I've had to lie to the police and cover up the theft of a milk van, and, although the former diesels and steamies appear to have accepted that they're all in this mess together, I still get the feeling that it'll only take something simple for them to erupt into some sort of gang warfare against each other."_

_"Are you going to tell them about what that Tiberius guy told you, that they might die soon?"_

_"No. We'll be discussing their future tonight. Sam, Larry and Peregrine are coming over for a meeting with me, and you, now, about my options. I am the major shareholder, don't forget, and I do have overall control of the railways, what's left of them at least!"_

_"What di-"_

The phone ringing again interrupted Burnet and Sir Topham reached over to answer it.

_"Hello,"_ he said.

_"It's Jeanie Watkins for you, Sir Topham,"_ he heard Debra say.

_"Put her through, please, Debra..._

_Yes, Jeanie, how are you getting on? Good news, I hope!"_

Burnett watched as Sir Topham closed his eyes and bow his head as he listened to his caller, then he saw him awkwardly rest the receiver under his chin with his shoulder as he uncapped the bottle of brandy and poured himself another measure, no, a double this time.

_"Are you getting any help?"_ Sir Topham then asked.

_"I see..._

_Yes..._

_No, no one else will have one, Jeanie. They stopped making them years ago. Saying that, though, I know my father brought a load of spare bits and pieces back with him from Barry, so I'll give Lawrence a ring and see if he's got a replacement. If he hasn't, then I'll have to organise a recovery team on the mainland to go and fetch you all back. Have you met that dragon expert yet?..._

_I see..._

_Yes, it's disappointing, isn't it!..._

_Well, thank Mr Jones for me for trying..._

_Right, give me your number there so I can call you back with some news..._

_Yes..._

_No..._

_Speak to you soon, Jeanie."_

_"Problem?"_ Burnett asked as Sir Topham put the receiver back down, knowing that that was probably the case by the look of worry on his face.

_"Edward's broken one of his coupling rods and they're stuck in the mountains in North Wales."_

Though he had no knowledge of North Wales or what it was like there, he still winced at the thought of the logistics in dealing with such a dilemma, and asked Sir Topham, _"How much damage?"_

_"All they know right now, it's just the rod. It snapped out rather than up. God, if THAT had happened..., anyway, I need to get Lawrence to check his spare parts, so, if you'll excuse me?" _

Sir Topham then picked up his phone again and started dialling the Steam Works.

_"That's what you were on about when you mentioned your father?"_ asked Burnett.

_"Yes,"_ said Sir Topham while he waited for an answer. _"There's bits and pieces for most of the steamies at Crovan's Gate, and I think there may be a coupling rod for Edward there as well, but I'm not sure. I know there are some for several of the other engines, but only Lawrence has the full list."_

_"Lawrence,"_ he said when the phone was finally answered on the other end, _"I need you to check what spares you have there for Edward. He's broken a coupling rod..."_

Burnett tuned out Sir Topham as he spoke on the phone, his only worry being the magical engine he'd left behind in Muffle Mountain, and the fact that he couldn't get to her. It had been a painful experience putting on those heavy safety clothes at the fire station, especially with his bad arm clutched tightly to his chest. He'd had to leave the empty sleeve simply hang beside him, only for him to have to take them all off again when they realised their trip to the magical buffers was in vain, and now, his arm ached like hell and he felt guilty that he was putting his own problems before those of his dear Lady. Self-consciously, he glanced over to Sir Topham and saw the man frown, and he feared that, somehow, his guilt was visible on his face and it was _that _that the railway owner was upset about, but as he heard Sir Topham start to speak again, he realised that his shame remained a secret known only to himself.

Sir Topham cursed silently, trying to figure out a plan of action. It would take a lorry a whole day to get to North Wales and he needed something there quicker than that. Despite nothing happening to Edward when he'd returned to the Island, he didn't want to risk an engine from the mainland coming over just in case something happened to it. He and the others were only assuming that whatever had caused the engines to transform was no longer a problem, but what if that foulness was lurking somewhere, just waiting for more engines to come to Sodor? He couldn't risk it. He'd have to..._Yes, by Jove, that's the answer!_

_"...Yes, I can send some help over to you, Lawrence..._

_Well, we'll have to cross our fingers and hope, won't we! Listen, I'll call you back soon."_

He then made another phone call that, to his surprise, brought some good news.

ooo

Jeanie put down the receiver and scowled at the mess on her hand. _There's bloody coal dust EVERYWHERE in this place, _she thought, wiping her dirty hand on her long coat, and, after thanking the mine owner for letting her use his phone, she made her way back outside to where Thomas and Jones were waiting.

As she walked, she ran through the conversation she'd just had with Sir Topham but couldn't recall any odd-sounding comment or anything that might have been said to put her into a hypnotic trance. _But,_ she thought, _would I even be able to remember hearing them?_ Frowning at her foolishness, she noticed Thomas putting some long wrench-thingies on the floor of Ivor's cab while Jones, still holding the smaller tools while he waited for him to finish, was talking to one of his miner friends in Welsh.

_"You've been a while,"_ said Thomas. _Maybe, _he thought to himself as he noticed the look of sadness on her face,_ Sir Topham must have given her bad news._ _"There's nothing wrong, is there?"_ he asked, beginning to worry himself.

_"I had to wait for Sir Topham to ring me back,"_ Jeanie replied quite stiffly, an errant thought set off an alarm bell in her mind, _"and it's a mixture of good and bad news. He's spoken with Mr Harrington at the Steam Works and, yes, he's got a coupling rod that he THINKS is for Edward, but he's not sure. Sir Topham is sending it along with some other parts that he thinks may have been damaged and some proper tools to us in Harold, the...talking helicopter. I told him we're in the mountains and that I didn't think there was anywhere flat enough for a helicopter to land, so they bringing them here in about two hours time."_

_"Did he say anything else?"_ asked Thomas, thinking of his friend Gordon who'd been very ill before they'd left for Glastonbury.

_Any more hypnotic suggestions, you mean,_ Jeanie cynically thought. _"No, but I told him about how much help Mr Jones has given us and he told me to say thank you to you, Mr Jones, Sir Topham is very grateful for your services."_

She wondered briefly if that was some sort of coded message she'd just passed on to the short engine driver.

_"You didn't have to do that,"_ said Jones, waving goodbye his miner friend at the same time. _"I'm only doing my job. Anyway, let's get back to the points."_ Glancing at his watch, he added, _"We're going to have to wait for that train to pass first before we can return to Smoke Hill, assuming it hasn't run early, that is. Ivor won't be able to pull Edward back up that hill, so I hope we won't have any problems getting that broken rod off when we get back. It'll be too dark soon to see what we're doing, anyway, so Ivor and I'll collect that new one in the morning and bring it over to you. We can fix the new one back on then, assuming it fits."_

_"Okay,"_ said Thomas, _"that's what we'll do, then, and Jeanie, James and I will stay the night with Edward to keep him company!"_

ooo

Sir Topham walked along the platform to the station's café and went in.

_"Good,"_ he said, seeing who was looking for. _"you're all together. I have a job for you three. Now, listen carefully..."_

ooo

The Mayor of Sodor placed the closing statement of Tiberius Hatt's business plan back in the folder and sat back in his chair, thinking about the welshman's proposal. It was quite an audacious plan, he thought to himself, and it would shock, possibly anger a lot of people on the Island, but, at the end of the day, it would create a lot of employment and give more business to a lot of Sodor's companies if it succeeded. The transportation infrastructure on the Island would be revolutionised, he thought, suddenly feeling nervous as he contemplated the likely reactions of the other Council members when he proposed it to them the following morning. _Ah well,_ he thought to himself, picking up his phone to ring the Clerk of the Council to forewarn him, _As needs must!_ _Now, let's set the ball rolling!_

ooo

While Thomas and Jones were climbing up into Ivor's cab, Jeanie glanced back as the miner that Jones had been talking to rejoined his colleagues, now all looking quite smart in their clean, coaldust-free suits as they gathered outside the mine's admin block for a quick smoke and gossip. _Were they talking in Welsh just so that I wouldn't understand what they were planning?_

_"Watch how you go, Miss Jeanie,"_ she heard Jones say to her, distracting her from her suspicions. _"With all these tools in the cab, there's not a lot of room left for our feet!"_

Once Ivor started moving, Jeanie leant against the back of the engine's cab, staring at the glowing firebox as she mentally ran through a list of questions that she wanted some answers to, and the "strange" events that had occurred around her.

She thought of the "train crash" that had started this chain of events and the supposed "former trains" that could "talk". The various "problems" they always seemed to be having and all the various strangers she'd met, all of them offering advice or guidance in some shape or form. She shook her head, thinking, _Maybe it IS a massive prank being played on me, like that one whatsiname did on the telly, tricking that guy to think zombies were real. Supposing Gem or one of my flatmates set me up for this, how could it all work out the way it has? First, they stage a train crash, but there's no wreckage. Three people get injured, but it could just be make-up they had on for their cuts and bruises. The two with grey skin claim that they're really trains that can talk and have suddenly changed into people. For fuck's sake, it's only more make-up! That old man caught me good, making me think that he was friends with that old bus. He even had me looking to see if I could see a FACE on it! The bastard! And that other one making me panic when he fainted, or pretended to faint in that phone box! The git! _

Ivor and his passengers arrived at the points about ten minutes before the train from Llanmad passed by on its way to Tewyn. Jones explained that the train, an old railcar, would then leave from there to start its return journey to Llanmad, calling in at Llaniog Station before running back past Pugh's Pit where, today, it would be stopping to pick up the party-going miners. It would then pass Smoke Hill on its way to Gwynaudolion Halt before joining onto the line from Tan-y-Gwlch, and then, from there, it had an uninterrupted run looping round the back of the mountains that towered over Smoke Hill and Mr Dinwiddy's gold mine before going back to Llanmad.

The old railcar, Thomas saw as it approached the points, was not too dissimilar to Daisy, but of a much earlier design, and, like Ivor, didn't have a face on its smokebox like he could see with Edward.

_"Say hello to Gladys, Thomas,"_ said Jones, gesturing towards the railcar

Hearing a stranger say **~Hello, Gladys!~** to it as it passed the little working engine startled the railcar so much that it revved its engine in surprise, and Thomas and Jones chuckled at the car's shocked reaction to the unexpected greeting. Ivor's amused "brp-brp" made Jones laugh even more, though Jeanie, when she asked the men what was so funny, had to be told what had just happened. She merely shrugged her shoulders as, lost in her thoughts as she was, she simply hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary, but the incident did highlight her seemingly isolated position amongst others who could, so they told her, talk to trains, she sourly thought to herself.

ooo

_"SPLODGE! THAT NEARLY LANDED ON MY FOOT!"_

_"Sorry, boss,"_ said Splatter.

_"Stop fooling about, you three,"_ said Lawrence Harrington. _"You're only here because the crew that should be here are baby-sitting that bunch of troublemakers at the campsite. Gordon and Victor have buggered off somewhere, so I need your help to shift some heavy stuff. Now, under this pile of what looks like scrap, but isn't, you'll find a coupling rod without a tab or yellow sticker on it. I want you to load that, and the tools I've put by the doorway, onto Harold."_

The ride in the helicopter from Knapford Station had been a strange experience for the three former diesels. Sir Topham had given them the task of helping the Steam Works manager locate a replacement coupling rod for Edward, the old steamy that had broken down somewhere in North Wales, and, to prove that he was willing to cooperate and work for the common good, Sir Topham had given Diesel 10 the job of delivering the tools and replacement rod to the coal mine near to where the blue engine had broken down.

Diesel 10 felt a certain degree of agitation as he rolled a rusty train wheel out of his way. Yes, it was good to get himself back into his owner's good books, he thought to himself, but, by doing so, he'd be working against Tiberius' plan by helping the steamies with their mission to save the magical engine. He hoped that the welshman wouldn't get to hear about what he was doing, as once he took control of the railways from Sir Topham, he'd then have authority over the former engines, and could order them to do anything. Diesel 10 wondered for a moment if he'd made a mistake by getting himself involved in the man's scheming. _All I did was to wash Lady's coal as he asked me to, _he thought. _What was wrong with that? It was only muddy river water!_

ooo

Once they were back at the old tunnel, Jones told Thomas that they'd have to roll Edward and the coal truck even further into the tunnel before the railcar returned again so they could make room for Ivor to be clear as well. Thomas agreed, telling Jones that, between him and James, they shouldn't take too long to get the broken rod off. They were lucky, he added, that the damage wasn't any more serious. It was also a good thing that Edward's boiler was so high above his chassis, otherwise, if the coupling rod ad been forced up into it, it would have caused a nasty explosion. Jones agreed that they were very lucky indeed, then, he said, _"Tell you what, if it doesn't take too long to get the broken rod off, I'll go back to Pugh's to wait for the replacement. It'll save some time in the morning."_

_"Okay,"_ agreed Thomas. _"It's a pity your friend Idris hasn't shown up today, though. Maybe he'll come to see us in the morning instead."_

_"He may,"_ said Jones. _"We'll just have to wait and see."_

_"This just had to happen when everything was going so well for us!"_ James said sadly.

After Thomas had gone over to explain the situation to Edward and they'd moved the procession further into the tunnel, Jeanie climbed down from Ivor's cab and sat down on his step. She felt that she'd had just about as much as she could take. The crazy and wild thoughts that had been going through her mind during the journey back from Pugh's Pit and snippets of remembered conversations all began to merge together...

_...and then, in the hospital, this "Sir Topham" guy goes to blow his whistle and then all of a sudden I'm in Hatt Hall! They use that whistle again to "beam" themselves across the room like something off Star Trek...FUCK! THAT'S IT! The whistle! I didn't hear it make a noise! It must be a dog whistle or something, and whenever I hear it I must go into a trance! He probably tells me to "think" that they disappeared to somewhere because I've been hypnotised to think that! He probably blows the whistle over the phone whenever I ring him and I go into a trance again for him to tell me more things to do! The bastard! That's why I have to keep phoning him all the time!_

Then, she remembered something that Sir Topham had said to her when he "offered" her the job: "but you'll find that what I will be telling you to be so fascinating that you'll not ever wish to leave the job." Her stomach lurched and she felt her mouth beginning to fill saliva._ Fascinate...that means something else, that does. What was it, now?... That's it! it means to...to BEWITCH! _She remembered eating dinner there and feeling dizzy shortly afterwards..._The bastard DRUGGED ME!_..._and he told me it was fucking railway magic affecting me!...and they even hired a RAILWAY STATION to do all this?...and they stopped every train on Sodor just to play a trick on me? Fuck! It must be costing them a fortune!_

_...but look at that zombie show they made. That must have been as expensive as hell. Fuck, oh, Jesus! I feel bad! That weird smile Jones had when he was talking to me about his friend knowing about dragons. He must be in it as well, and then there's Ivor's whistle. It's probably radio controlled or something. They can control that robot thing on Mars by radio waves so they MUST be able to control a bloody steam train as well! I haven't actually seen anything yet that could be called "extraordinary", nor any proof that the trains can talk. There's probably cameramen filming me right now from up on the mountain somewhere. No, I'm NOT going to look around for them, the bastards!_

_Fuck it! Oh, my stomach feels bad. They're probably going to somehow try and get me to go to that pub and the "big surprise" will be me being revealed as a fool for believing that trains could talk! That's what Jones must have been planning when he was talking in welsh to that miner, and that double-dragon beer must have been code for whatsiname, that Darran, no, Derren - that's his name - that Derren Brown guy being there...Hang on! That guy at Pugh's Pit...he said something about there being a surprise later at that Dai-goke place. What was that he was about to say before Pugh stopped him? Something about seeing them two dra-something...Two dragons! That's it! Derren Brown and...and Gemma or one of my friends all dressed up in fucking dragon costumes, and he's holding a fucking microphone in his hand and there'll be a cameraman filming it all and it'll all be live on telly and - oh, my guts feel rotten - all the fucking country will see Jeanie Watkins, the girl who went gallivanting all over the country on some wild goose chase to save a magical engine that doesn't exist except for in my head and everyone will piss themselves laughing at me when they see me, and Gemma or one of my so-called friends will be dressed up as a female dragon with some silly skirt on or whatever and,_ her wild thoughts were interrupted by Jones the Steam's excited cry of "Hey, why don't you flag down the railcar and go to the party in Llanmad with me?".

_THE BASTARDS HAVE SET ME UP! Fu-Oh, no! I'm going to be si- _and Jeanie collapsed off Ivor's step and onto the rocky ballast, hurting her knees and grazing her hands as she landed, and vomiting. Once her stomach was empty and she had the chance to breath again, she started crying in her misery, wondering in her self-pity what she'd ever done to her sister or her friends for them to do something as nasty as this to her in order to get their own back to her. _"JEANIE?"_ she distantly heard someone shout in alarm, but she ignored it, filled with shame and despair as she was for letting herself be taken in so, and also the embarrassment of being seen by millions of viewers safe and warm in their living rooms as she retched and cried on the ground. She curled up into a foetal ball on top her own mess, continuing to cry and feeling all over her body the terrible, hollow ache of regret that she'd allowed herself to get caught out like this. _Please, I'm only twenty-four, _her mind begged. _I'm way too young to have a mental breakdown! _

Not paying any attention to what the others standing nearby and seemingly oblivious to her suffering were now shouting, she therefore didn't hear Jones the Steam's welcoming "Oh, Hello!", nor Thomas' simple but excited "Ooh, look at them!", and not even Ivor's tuneful little "Brp-brRp!". What she did notice through her tear-blurred vision, though, was a large red shape drop down onto the ground in front of her.

Thinking that James must have seen her on the ground and had come over to see what was the matter with her, and tripped, concern for one of her friends forced itself to the forefront of her mind, and so that she could see better, she wiped the tears away from her eyes with the back of her hand and pushed at the ground to raise herself up to help him. She tilted her head to look at the red-coated body of her friend, but, just as she was about to ask him if he was hurt, her mouth fell open in shock and she tensed, refusing to accept what she was seeing, for there, in front of her and standing no more than five feet away with its head cocked to one side as it gazed quizzically down at her with its two, large, ruby-red eyes..._That's NOT James in front of me!_ ...was _something_ with skin, no, not skin, _scales, scarlet scales as red as blood_ that, despite the fading daylight, practically glistened. The thingwas as big as a cow but with a long tail _Is that a triangle at the end?_ she could see sticking out to one side that _Can tails DO that?_ slowly coiled round into a loop. The _thing _then stepped towards her and lowered its head until its snout all but touched her nose, and _it's smelling me?_ The _thing_ then gave a loud snort and reared back several yards, seemingly disgusted by what was before it and, at the same time, making a low, deep, rumbling growl that made Jeanie's ribs vibrate. _"They're here!"_ she heard Jones the Steam say excitedly. _"It's Olwen and the children!"_

She push herself backwards, fearing that the beast was going to attack her any second, and she opened her mouth to scream, but froze as she saw another of the creatures, a smaller one this time and about the size of a small goat, and it was hovering in mid-air just in front of Jones the Steam's face. _There's TWO of them?_ She saw the short engine driver struggling to stay upright against the downdraft being caused by the animal's two sweeping wings as they beat at the air around to make it rose up a few feet above the man. The wings were that powerful she could actually _feel _the draught being caused against her wet face, and she knew that what she was experiencing right then was as real as the vomit on her hands and as true as the tears she'd just been crying and were still soaking her cheeks.

Jones cried out, jumping up and down as he tried to touch the hovering beast's claws with his outstretched hands as though playing some sort of game. Her scream stilled in her throat, her panicked mind pieced together the engine driver's words and what she was seeing in front of her. _Olwen? She's a...a DRAGON?_

_"JEANIE!" _she then heard Thomas call.

Her mouth still open in mute shock, she quickly turned her head to look at Thomas and saw him pointing at something above her. Twisting her neck to look behind her and upwards, she saw another of the small things, no, a small dragon like the one Jones was playing with, perched on top of Ivor's funnel. _The small ones are the children?_ Something big and dark moving high against the grey clouds overhead caught her eye, and she looked up and saw _another one?_ with its wings outstretched as it gracefully circled above them about a hundred feet up. _How the hell can something as big as THAT fly? s_he wondered, then she saw it suddenly fold its wings back and sharply turn as it begun to dive down _Oh fuck!_ towards where she was sprawled back on the ground. She quickly started to scuttle backwards, now believing the worst. The first one she's seen also backed away, as though making room for the other one to land.

Then, something hard and painfully sharp impacted against her back. "AAARGH!" she cried out. _THE SMALL ONE'S ATTACKED ME!_ her mind screamed, but then she caught a glimpse of green and grey in the corner of her eye and realised that she'd banged against one of Ivor's wheels. That, however, did little to dispel her fear as she saw the shape of the descending dragon suddenly triple in size as it spread out its wings to halt its rapid descent just a few feet above her, then she heard a loud thud as the large dragon landed on the hard ground, its front claws mere inches from her legs, and she felt the beast's hot breath against her face as it lowered its head and opened its large jaws to show off its sharp fangs, and..._and it's bigger than the first one!_ Jeanie started to tremble, and suddenly felt warmth between her legs as her bladder released its contents as the dragon drew its head back, turning it to glare at her with its coal-black eyes, then, just as the first creature had done, it lowered its snout and sniffed at her, and it, too, reared back away from her. The huge beast then roared what Jeanie thought to be a challenge to the first dragon, as if warning it away from its prey, then, as images of her family flashed through her mind and the terrible knowledge that she was never going to see them again and they would forever be wondering why she had disappeared from their lives without even leaving a note or saying anything, she thought sadly, _I'm going to die now!_

The huge dragon turned its head back to look at her and she shut her eyes, her final thought, _Goodbye Gemma, I forgive you, _as she waited for the dragon to bite her, and waited...and waited, then, the words_** #Little one,# **_seemed to chime inside her head._** #What are you? You smell...wrong!# **_

Despite the oddity of what she'd just heard, felt, whatever, her mind focused on just one thing: _It's SINGING at me?_ then, she felt all her worries and fears disappear and be replaced by a deep need for something that she just couldn't find the words for. Her bones were, what, _shivering? Shaking?_ _No, they're...they're PLEADING? _Then a craving overcame her, a desire for something to fill that inexplicable emptiness she was suddenly feeling, an overpowering need to just touch whatever it was within that voice that was the only thing in the world that could save her from the absolute agony filling her very core as sheer pain racked through her every vein, muscle, even the fine hairs on her skin. She couldn't take any more of this torture, but, O_h, that voice!_

If there was anything in the world she wanted to do right then, it was to just simply its softness and tone, just to revel in its...its sheer...sparkle, _no, not sparkle, its...magic!_ Then she felt her bones began to tremble and her head was filled with more of the pain, a pain so intense she wished that the dragon had actually killed her when it first landed, and she wanted to scream her lungs out but she couldn't even do that because she couldn't breathe, her chest was getting tighter and tighter and her heart was beating so loud and as rapid as Edward's pistons had been when he was raced along the track during their journey to Glastonbury and then, just as her heart felt it was about to explode, despite the agony, a faint and distant whisper in the back of her mind told her that she'd once believed Lady's voice to be pure, but no, hearing the voice in her head just now, that...whatever it was she was feeling in every part of her body right then, despite the agony, it was more than just pure, it was so...it was so right, so...so true in its essence that she just wanted to give herself to it in its entirety as she realised something...the beast, the red-scaled beast whose voice, no, whose SONG was so pure..._and dragons lay eggs, don't they?_ she felt...she suddenly felt awed in its presence. She'd found what they'd been looking for!_ The Winged Beast, born the way of the bird but not of the bird. He that possess the Coat of Blood, Pure is his Song, _then her vision started to fade and she fell to one side, inert and unfeeling onto the ballast stones next to the little green engine's wheels.

ooOOoo

Note:

#...# denotes Dragon Song, a sound that, to the human mind, is perceived as purely musical and without any words, the music itself carrying the information the dragon wishes to communicate. Rather than a full octave, generally, only a few notes are used as it's the inflection of the note(s) that determines the words/context spoken. I've done it this way as, well, dragons obviously don't have a human larynx so they can't speak like us, they ROAAAAARRRR!

However, when they want to talk amongst themselves, when humans only hear roars and growls, dragon speak is denoted by ##...##

Welsh glossary:

Twpsyn – Idiot, stupid [person].


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

The two large dragons roared at each other, sending the two startled youngsters high into the air in alarm at their parent's bickering.

_**##Don't you shout at me like THAT, Husband!##**_ said Olwen indignantly. _**##We flew down because we saw Jones the Steam and Ivor by the tunnel. It's obvious they wanted to talk to us!##**_

_**##Didn't you see the just as obvious strangers, Wife?##**_ Idris asked with a hint of sarcasm. _**##You know unknowns mean danger to us. They'll hunt us down they do and take us away like they did my father all those years ago. I've told you that SO many times, now!##**_

_**##You didn't have to kill her!##**_ Olwen then said rather haughtily, changing her tack as she grudgingly accepted the truth of her mate's words.

_**##Oh, she's not dead, Olwen,##**_ said Idris, calming down a bit as he sensed her agreement on the matter with him, _**##Whoever gave her magic spirit only gave her half and she hasn't got balance. She's tipped over she has!##**_

_**##Oh,##**_ said Olwen, now sounding quite mollified. _**##Why would they want to do something like THAT to her? Don't they know how dangerous it is? The humans meddle with the magic and thay ALWAYS make mistakes!##**_

_**##I don't know,##**_ said Idris. _**##Maybe Jones the Steam will tell us. Go, Wife, and bring Gaian and Blodwen down before someone else sees them!##**_

Still annoyed at her mate for the way he'd rebuked her, there was a loud crack of thunder as Olwen's large wings violently displaced the air around her as she shot into the sky. Idris then turned to the group of humans that had gathered around the young woman and who were trying to revive her, though without any success.

Both James and Thomas looked on as Jones, holding Jeanie's limp arm, checked for a pulse in her wrist, and finding a slow but steady beat under his fingertips, nodded reassuringly to them. James found himself staring at the dried blood on Jeanie's fingers, and had to shake his head a few times to clear his mind of some disturbing images he wasn't too sure if they were memories or fears. Jones, then, thinking to take care of her bloodied hands, asked Thomas to go and see if there was a first-aid kit in the brakevan and gave him a description of what to look for. Thomas ran over to Toad, returning a couple of minutes later with a small green plastic box from which Jones used some sticking plasters to cover the cuts to keep any dirt out.

_"Idris,"_ he said, looking back at the dragon now sitting on his haunches several feet behind him, _"what did you do to her?"_

_**# I did nothing,# **_ replied Idris. _**# The young female is not well,# **_ then, looking at the two humans standing near Jones, he rose up onto his four legs and went over, sniffing the air around them. _**# These unknowns are not right, either. I smell Ivor within them, and they smell wrong as well but in a different way, but I don't smell Ivor in the female. I can smell the unknowns in the woman, but there is too much and there is no balance. I am confused, Jones. Who are your friends?# **_

_"They used to be engines like Ivor,"_ Jones told him, _"but not this woman. She was always human, but...Thomas,"_ he then said, turning to the blue-coated former engine, _"will you tell Idris what happened to you and your friends, please? He says there's something wrong with Jeanie and that he can smell something wrong with you and James as well!"_

Thomas stood up and looked at the large dragon. It was nothing like the one that had frightened Percy all those years back. This one, unlike the cloth and wooden model that he'd once pulled on a flat bed, was real, and it could fly!

_"James and I used to be steam engines like Ivor,"_ he said. _"Lady, our magical friend, is another steam engine, and she fell ill and lost her magic, and when we woke up after that happened, we weren't engines any more, we were like people, and we're on a mission to save her and get her magic back to make us engines again."_

_**# The woman is like you but not like you,# **_ said Idris. _**# She is only part magical, and too much to one side. Why is that? Who made her so poorly like this?# **_

_"I don't understand what you mean,"_ said Thomas, hearing the message in pretty much the same way he heard his engine friends speak, but in a different way. Whereas he would hear Edward "speak" in his mind, Idris' "words" were like a child's voice intoning musical notes, yet, even though no actual words were being spoken, the magical link between them all meant that he could still understand the intent of what the dragon was "saying". Being used to communicating with other magical vehicles, he naturally took it in his stride and wasn't affected by Idris' magical aspect in the same way that Jeanie had been. _"But Sir Topham Hatt, our own-"_

Idris suddenly snarled as the unknown standing before him mentioned his owner's name, then he said, _**# Go on with your explanation, please, not-engine,# **_ his "voice" sounding quite neutral despite his agitated demeanour, which confused Thomas.

_"Er, Sir Topham gave her a job on Sodor Railways to help us to be like people. She has been really useful and helped us a lot, and we all felt sad when she couldn't hear Edward when he spoke to her when she first met him."_

_**# Tell me, not-engine, did the one you call Lady have her magic when Hatt gave the female his own?# **_

_"I don't think so,"_ said Thomas, trying to recall when he'd first met Jeanie. _"No, she didn't. I remember we were in the station café when he introduced her to us."_

_**# Then, I think it is what he did is what is wrong with her,# **_ said Idris. _**# Her railway magic is not balanced; she only carries the male aspect, and when she met me just now, not having any female from the one you call Lady to balance it, she was overwhelmed by my own male aspect. You humans say 'Like repels like, in matters such as this, and I think that that is what happened here today.# **_

_"How can we help Jeanie be better again?"_ Thomas asked.

_**# She needs the female aspect from Lady to become balanced, but it may not work for her now. I believe I know where you are from, not-engine, and for your railway magic to work correctly, it needs to be given as one, the male and female aspects given together. Lady not having hers when Hatt gave his meant that she received only the male aspect, his dominance over her. She didn't receive the communication magic that flows between you and your Lady, and that is why she couldn't hear your engine friend when he spoke to her.# **_

_"We have to save Lady,"_ said James, now crouched beside Jeanie and holding her limp arm, _"and we have to ask her to help Jeanie. We can't leave her like this!"_

_**# I don't think that would be the wisest thing,# **_ said Idris. _**# The magic works by overwhelming the human's mind and taking control over it. The female's mind is still separate from the magic that Hatt gave her, and they are fighting each other over who is in control. The magic from the one you call Lady will merge with that from Hatt and, together, they will continue to fight the human mind that still remains.# **_

_"Will she be able to see and hear us as engines if she has Lady's magic in her?"_ Thomas asked Idris.

_**# I'm sorry, I don't know that, either,# **_ said the dragon. _**# It is a very dangerous thing to have two opposing forces constantly battling like that. The fight for control may destroy your friend's mind, and, if she loses, her life will be empty of all thought until the day she dies.# **_

_"Idris,"_ said Jones, _"what will happen to Jeanie if she doesn't get that magic from Lady? Will she just be as she is now? Will she wake up?"_

_**# She will wake soon, and she will be very confused as her mind continues its battle against Hatt's magic,# **_ said the dragon, sitting back down, his wings folded in and his tail swishing slowly. _**# She will constantly be questioning herself, never sure of what is real and what is not. Her mind will continue its struggle until all is lost, and the magic she has will have nothing left to control but an empty shell. Either way, your friend will be the loser.# **_

_"Did I just hear Idris?"_ asked Mr Dinwiddy, emerging from inside the tunnel. _"IDRIS!"_ he called, seeing the large red dragon talking with Jones the Steam and his friends, _"PRYNHAWN DA I TI!"_

_**# Prynhawn da to you, too, Mr Dinwiddy,# **_ said Idris. _**# It is a pleasure to see you again. You are looking well grand you do!# **_

_"I just woke up I did_," said Mr Dinwiddy,_ "and I thought it was the middle of the night and I nearly knocked myself out on the wall of the tunnel when I jumped down onto the track! Duw, duw, I-I haven't been inside this tunnel since I was a little boy I haven't. I'm sorry to hear of your father's passing, my friend," _and went to give Idris a sympathetic hug around his broad neck, but stopped a foot short and said, still holding his arms outstretched as he stepped backwards,_ "Ooh, mustn't do that I mustn't! I don't want to burn my hands I don't!" _Being a fire-breathing dragon, Idris' scales were scalding-hot and would burn the flesh of anyone touching him.

_"When Jones told me last week to expect a change in you, I wasn't expecting this I wasn't! I thought you'd still be shut in your cave grieving. Will you grow any bigger? Will Olwen?"_

_**# I am reconciled, now, Mr Dinwiddy, thank you, and we won't grow much bigger than this,# **_ said the dragon, _**# though it is taking a while to go through my new memories when the children keep nagging all day for me to take them out flying!# **_

Mr Dinwiddy smiled at the dragon's comment and then turned to face his friend Jones. As he did so, he noticed the two men with the young woman he'd seen in Ivor's cab laying on the ground behind him, and said, quite concerned, _"Oh-er, what's happened here, then?"_

_**# A bad thing has been done to this female, Mr Dinwiddy, a very bad thing indeed! She only has half of her railway magic, and she reacted very badly when I arrived here and went too close to her.# **_

_"Can you help her, Idris?"_ Mr Dinwiddy asked as he walked over to take a look at the young woman. Scratching the back of his neck, he then said, _"She doesn't look very well at all she doesn't."_

_**# No, I can't help her, Mr Dinwiddy,# **_ said Idris. _**# I don't have the magic she needs.# **_

Jones looked surprised as he asked, _"You've been in the tunnel before, have you, Mr Dinwiddy? You've never mentioned that to me before!"_

_"You've never asked me about it before, Jones the Steam you haven't,"_ said Mr Dinwiddy, now looking rather upset as he started to quickly pace back and forth between Idris and Jones.

_"Where does it come out, Mr Dinwiddy?"_ Jones then asked. _"Does it come out at Pugh's Pit?"_

_"I don't know anything about that I don't,"_ he replied, turning his back to Jones. _"They chased me away, they did!"_ he said, his voice almost muffled by Ivor's quiet whooshing.

_"What was that, Mr Dinwiddy?"_ asked Jones. _"Did you just say 'They chased you away'? Who chased you away, Mr Dinwiddy?"_

_"The men did, Jones, the men chased me away they did!"_

_"What men chased you away, Mr Dinwiddy?"_ Jones asked, getting worried by the old man's reticence, especially when this sounded quite a serious matter. He knew from past experience that getting information out of the elderly gold prospector was like getting blood from a stone, and the only way that seemed to work for him was to simply repeat whatever the old man last said.

_"The man that chased me they did."_ Mr Dinwiddy then started to gnaw on the back of his right hand as he walked back towards Jones the Steam.

_"The men that chased you, Mr Dinwiddy,"_ said Jones, _"who were they, and why did they chase you?"_

_"They didn't want me seeing what they were doing they didn't,"_ answered Mr Dinwiddy, his voice bereft of his usual jollity and now sounding quite mournful as he walked quickly towards the dragon. _"It was a long, long time ago, Jones, and I was a little boy I was and I was scared for my life and I ran away from them and I never went back in again I didn't, not until they'd come out and gone away again for a long, long time they did."_

_"What were the men doing in there, Mr Dinwiddy?"_ Jones then asked.

_"Terrible things,"_ said the old man, shaking his head quite violently as though in denial, _"and I remember it well I do. I remember it too well now you reminded me you did. I remember when they were building this tunnel, and I remember them taking a lot of boxes of things in there I do. They had big ones and small ones and a long one that took six of them to carry it in it did. They were carrying it like a coffin they were."_

_"Did you see what was in it, Mr Dinwiddy?"_ asked Jones, intrigued, also noticing that Idris had taken an interest in the old man's enigmatic words and was gazing at the pacing old man in a most strange manner.

Instead of answering, Mr Dinwiddy did something that neither Jones the Steam, Dai Station, nor anyone else that lived in the locality had ever seen him do before. Mr Dinwiddy took off his hat. He took off his hat and went over to sit on a large rock that was sticking out of the ground nearby, then he started to nervously fidget with the hat's rim, turning it round and round in his hands. He looked up at Jones the Steam for a moment, then glanced over to Idris, shook his head slowly and then looked over to the two strangers with the unconscious woman.

_"Jones,"_ he said, his voice now taking on a stronger timbre than usual, _"you've known me all your life you have, and in all that time, you've known me to be a crazy old gold-prospector who lived in his gold mine and acted as though he wasn't right in the head. What was inside that long box horrified me so much I think it did send me a bit twp it did, and now Idris telling me your lady friend is somehow mixed up in the railway magic has made me think of things I wanted to forget. _

_"In a way, I hoped that I was going to stay twp, just so that I'd never have to think again of what I saw back then, but time heals, as they say, and unfortunately I got better, and I knew that what I saw wasn't any crazy imaginings but was really real it was. I thought that if I carried on acting twp, I might become twp and then I'd be free of that memory I would."_

Then, looking over to where Thomas and now James were standing, Mr Dinwiddy called out, _"You two gentlemen may want to hear this as well, and you, Ivor, as this will especially concern you, seeing as you don't remember any of it you don't."_

_"brP?"_ the engine asked, surprised.

_"Yes, you, my little green metal friend,"_ replied Mr Dinwiddy.

This was a Mr Dinwiddy that Jones had never seen before. Instead of the crazy old man that enthused poetically about blasting at rocks with his sticks of dynamite and his seemingly disgruntled complaints whenever he found more gold and had to bury it again because he had so much of it laying around everywhere, the man now sitting on the rock was talking just like any normal, or sane, man would. Ever since he was a young boy, Jones had always known Mr Dinwiddy to be rather eccentric in his ways and, when he had gotten to know him personally rather than as a stranger when he'd left school and become an engine driver, he learnt that, although eccentric, he was still a kind and good-hearted man, but right now, Jones realised that he was about to learn something very personal from the old man, something very personal that had obviously affected him quite deeply, and had made him the man he was.

_**# You know, don't you, Mr Dinwiddy,# **_ said Idris. _**# You know where my Father was kept.# **_

_"That I do, my dear friend, that I do. I can see it all in my mind like it was just this very morning I can."_ Mr Dinwiddy gave a deep sigh and then began to speak.

_"I was a young boy when they, the railway people, built this tunnel, and to a young boy like me as I was back then..."_ Mr Dinwiddy paused as a whimsical smile flit across his face for a couple of seconds, then he continued, _"...and it was exciting seeing them dig into the mountain and cart all the rubble away in their wagons. I'd sneak in there some days when they'd knocked off work just to see how far they'd gone. Then they seemed to stop bringing rubble out and started to take stuff in. Not my da or dadcu saw anything else being brought out, only lots of stuff going in. _

_"It was very strange looking equipment they were taking in it was, all kinds of machinery and stuff that neither my da nor I had no idea what it did, and then nothing happened for a month or so. It was like they were waiting for something to happen, and whenever I came here with my da to explore what we thought was just a new mine, there was always someone standing outside. One day, there was no-one here, and when me and my da came here to sneak a look, we saw that it had been boarded up with thick wooden planks, much like those on the ground back there."_ Mr Dinwiddy gestured back with his thumb to the planks that James had removed.

_"My da went back up to the mine,"_ Mr Dinwiddy then looked up to the two strangers, _"It's my family's mine you see. My dadcu started digging for gold up there when he was a young man he did, and he passed it on to my da before he died, and then he passed it to me when he caught wet lung he did. I don't have anyone to pass it on to I don't, after all, what woman in her right mind would want to marry a crazy old man like me, eh? A crazy woman? Ha! There's plenty of THEM around here, but not for me! I don't know what I'll do with it,"_ he murmured, shaking his head resignedly. Then, he looked up and said, _"Do you want to have it, Jones?"_ cocking his head at the welsh engine driver. _"You've been a good friend to me over the years, Jones the Steam, and if I'm not crazy already, I'd have gone mad from the loneliness a long time ago if it wasn't for you."_

_"Mr Dinwiddy!"_ exclaimed Jones, his face a picture of shock. _"I...I couldn't! Wh-what about Ivor? Who'd drive him then?"_

_"We'll talk of it again, Jones we will,"_ said Mr Dinwiddy who then, quite resolutely, put his hat back on his head. He nodded once as though confirming something that had been worrying him for some time, and then carried on with his story...

_"Anyway, as I was saying, my da went back to fetch a crowbar to prise a couple of the planks off and then we went inside. We both had a lamp each and we walked along the track they'd laid for about two hundred yards or so and then, round a bend in the tunnel, we came to a big chamber. It was like they'd dug the whole inside of the mountain away because we could barely see the roof it was so big, yes, so big it was, and the track we were standing on split into three more lines, all disappearing into the darkness. _

_"We turned up the wicks of our lamps as far as they would go but the flames still stayed dim and wouldn't go any brighter they wouldn't, and no matter how hard we looked or strained our eyes, we still couldn't see the roof or any of the cavern walls we couldn't. We were so far into the tunnel that none of the light from outside was reaching us, especially with that bend behind us. It was like wall of darkness all around us it was! _

_"I picked a stone up from the ground and threw it into the darkness, thinking to hit the rock wall or something, and I heard it hit something that clanged like metal. What it was I hit I don't know because we couldn't see anything in there it was so dark. Then my Da did the same. Arms as thick as branches he had, and he threw his stone as hard as he could. Then we heard his stone hit something, but this time it didn't go clang like mine did, no it didn't go clang at all, it just made a small thud, then we heard the most frightening roar, just like a big lion in one of those Tarzan films I saw in the pictures when I was older and could afford the tuppence it cost to go in, but it was much louder than a lion it was, and we ran for our lives all the way back out of the tunnel without stopping we did. When we were outside and saw that nothing was chasing us, my Da quickly nailed the planks back in place and we went home for our tea."_

_"Then, a month or so later, the railway men came back, and after taking the planks down, they started taking even more stuff in. They took more railway lines and sleepers in, and then they took lots more stuff in after that, but that stuff was all in some big covered wagons. I never saw them bring that stuff back out, though, and I used to stay up on that hill over there all day," Mr Dinwiddy pointed across the main track and to a low mountain to the right of Smoke Hill, "with some bread and water to keep me going, just watching them go in and out all day long until it was time for me to go home. _

_"One day, I waited for a bit and when no-one was coming out for a while, I went down and sneaked into the tunnel. I didn't need a lamp this time as they'd hung oil lamps from the wooden crossbeams holding the tunnel roof up they had. I was as quiet as a mouse I was and I went deeper and deeper into the tunnel and round the bend where my da and me heard that loud roar and then I saw the back end of the engine they were using to push the wagons in, and then I heard a strange rumbly groaning noise from further inside the tunnel where the big cavern was. I thought it was like a big dog, yes, a rumbly groan it was making this time, not a roaring like a lion, then I heard men shouting some strange words, foreign words I think they were shouting, and then the rumbly groaning noise stopped. I crept past the engine and there was about five or six wagons I still had to sneak past, and so I crept alongside them until I could see what they were doing in there, and then I saw it, but it wasn't a dog I saw making that rumbly groaning noises it wasn't, no, sir, it wasn't a dog at all it wasn't."_

_**# It was Gwilym,# **_ said Idris, sitting back on his haunches and looking at Mr Dinwiddy, his long tail flicking to and fro as though irritated at something, _**# and he was in a cage made of iron bars.# **_

_"That's right, my friend. It was your father it was, as fierce and as red as the one on our flag it was, and he was in a big iron cage on one of the wagons that had been covered over, and I ran back out again, trying not to make any noise in case they caught me and fed me to him. Forgive me for saying this, Idris, my friend, especially in front of strangers, but I remember the day when you told me you had new memories and that you were going to grow bigger because your father had died, and I remember the day many years before that when I first met you, when you were as small as your Gaian is now you were. Years after that, I asked you why you never seemed to grow bigger as you got older, and you told me that you wouldn't grow any bigger until after your father died and you woke up knowing what he knew and you'd have new songs you would. Duw, that was so long ago, now, and little Gaian and Blodwen won't get any bigger either until you die and pass your songs on to them they won't."_

_"In a way, Idris,"_ said Jones the Steam, _"it was a good job that you were still small that day when I found you after Smoke Hill had gone cold, or I'd never have got you into Ivor's cab for a warm. YOU might have died that die and then there would be no Gaian or Blodwen to pass your memories on to!"_

_**# That's right, Jones,# **_ said Idris. _**# If I was as big then as I am now, you'd have had to build a bonfire around me instead!# **_

_"If you get any bigger,"_ said Jones, _"you'll need to find another home. There can't be much room left in your cave now for you , can there?"_

_**# There is enough,# **_ the dragon replied, _**# and if Gaian and Blodwen start to get on my nerves, I'll send them to live in Ivor's firebox!# **_

_"Talking of the children,"_ said Jones, then, looking up into the sky, _"where have they gone to?"_

_**# Wife has taken them home. She is not happy with me right now for telling her she did wrong.# **_

_"Women they are!"_ Jones chuckled. _"Whether they be dragon or human!"_

Idris then let out a deep, rumbling cackle that startled both Thomas and James, and they stepped away from the dragon, not realising that the creature was actually laughing at what Jones the Steam had just said.

Once it was quiet enough again to be heard, Mr Dinwiddy continued with his tale. _"I saw another strange thing a couple of days after that. The little green engine they used to push the wagons into the tunnel was pushing another engine and a carriage coach inside, and behind the green engine, which I will come back to, there were six men dressed like Druids they were, and they were carrying a long box like a coffin, and they carried it into the tunnel behind the trains they did. I think I'd already started to go a bit twp after I had that fright with my da, because I went down from my spy place and sneaked into the tunnel after them. I stayed behind them just far enough that I could hear their footsteps and not walk into the tunnel wall and hurt myself, and I followed them as they carried the box past the parked engines and carriage coach and into the big cave me and my Da had been in, the one with the dragon in it, but we didn't know it was a dragon then we didn't. We'd thought it was some big, fierce dog or something worse._

_"The cavern was all lit up with bright lamps. and there was all kinds of strange machinery around the walls that made it look like inside a factory where they made things. I knew what inside a factory looked like because I'd been inside an iron mill with my da the year before they started building this tunnel. " _

_"What did the other engine look like, Mr Dinwiddy?"_ asked Jones, intrigued by the tale his long-time friend was telling them and only needing confirmation of something he already half-suspected, but he was willing to wait a bit for that.

_"It was pretty much like old Ivor, here, but different shaped, and it was painted with the loveliest purple and gold I could ever imagine."_

_"Those are Lady's colours!"_ said Thomas excitedly, looking at James who then nodded in agreement.

_"I don't know this 'Lady' you speak of, sir,"_ said Mr Dinwiddy, _"but I know the day they carried that long box into the tunnel, I just had to follow them to see what was in it."_

_"What was in it, Sir?"_ asked James, always one for a good mystery.

_"All in good time, sir,"_ said Mr Dinwiddy, _"all in good time, then, they put the box they were carrying down on the floor in the middle of the chamber, and the driver of the little green engine climbed out of his cab and uncoupled the purple one and went back to the green one and shunted it onto one of the other tracks, then he reversed the green engine back and then the people that had been inside the carriage coach all climbed out and started doing weird things."_

_"What do you mean 'weird', Sir?"_ asked Thomas.

_"First,"_ replied Mr Dinwiddy, looking at Thomas, _"they started chanting more foreign words, words that weren't either Welsh or English, and they weren't Latin, either, because I knew what Latin sounded like from Sunday School and it wasn't that what they were chanting it wasn't. Then, they started painting strange marks on the ground next the box and also on the purple engine's boiler and smokebox, and then there was more chanting and there was a man there taking photographs with flash powder and then they opened the box they'd just carried in."_

Mr Dinwiddy paused for a minute and just stared at the ground by his feet. Nobody asked him to continue as, despite being on tenterhooks to know what was in the box, they knew that the old man was reaching within himself for the courage to reveal something that had greatly affected him as a child, and, indeed, had been doing so ever since. He then raised his head, cast his eyes over his waiting audience, and said, _"They lifted a woman out of the box, and she was as naked as the day she was born she was, and she had hair something like the colour the poor woman other there by Ivor has, but much lighter, almost white it was, and she had lots of strange marks burnt into her skin she did. Branded all over like a cow she was!_

_"Then they put her down on top of the marks they'd made on the ground and someone else came over and put some things on the ground around her by her head, her hands and her feet. A metal cup, two candles and two lumps of coal they were. It reminded me of what I'd seen the pastor do in the chapel hall one time. Then they did more chanting and photographs and after that they opened the iron cage and the dragon came out and started walking to where the naked woman was laying on the floor and I thought it was going to eat her and then I ran screaming back out of the tunnel and some of the men chased after me and shouted at me to stop and come back, but I ran all the way out of the tunnel and down over there,"_ Mr Dinwiddy pointed in the general direction of Smoke Hill, _"and through the narrow gap in the rocks that I knew the big men wouldn't fit and I ran all the way home crying because that naked lady with all the scars was going to be eaten by that dragon and they were wicked men for doing it."_

By now, Mr Dinwiddy was beginning to tremble, and Jones could see that his old friend had been struggling to hold in his emotions as he told them all of the terrible thing he'd witnessed that day, and, stepping forward to console his elderly friend, Jones said, _"Mr Dinwiddy, I ca-"_

_"Mr Dinwiddy, Sir,"_ Thomas called, interrupting the engine river, _"were the marks on the naked lady you saw anything like these?"_

Mr Dinwiddy looked up at the stranger and gasped when he saw that the man had unbuttoned his coat and was now holding his undervest open to reveal his bare chest, bare except for the branding scars that looked so similar to what he's seen on the naked woman decades ago as a young boy. _"Arglwydd yn ol!"_ he exclaimed, his voice returning to his usual high-pitched tone as a look of fresh horror appeared on his face.

_"And these?"_ asked James, then, unbuttoning his undergarments to reveal the same markings that Thomas had on his skin.

_"Dear Good Lord, and you, too?"_ said Jones, staring at the markings, markings he suspected to possibly be of mystical origin. When he'd first started working on the railways and realised that he could understand the little green engine he was to later drive, Dai Station, who had been made the station master at Llaniog some years before, had told him of other magicals that existed, such as lorries and buses. It was, he'd told the young Edwin Jones, something that had existed and been going on in the world of commercial vehicles for a very long, long time. From then on, as far as Jones the Steam was concerned, it had just seemed right. Indeed, he'd already accepted the truth of what Thomas had previously told him about formerly being a tank engine, James as well, but this, what he was seeing now, well, it was something else, something he'd never ever thought of or imagined could have something to do with magical railways. It was most alarming.

_"What about Miss Jeanie?" _he asked, then. _"Does...does she have those...those marks on her as well?"_

_**# She won't have them, Jones,# **_ said Idris. _**# She's always been a human, and still is.# **_

_"Who...who ARE you p-p-people?"_ cried Mr Dinwiddy as tears began to run down his wrinkled cheeks and into his white beard, his mind now flicking back and forth between what he'd seen during his childhood horror and what was in front of him in living, albeit grey, flesh. _"P-p-please t-tell me!"_

_"brrp-rrp,"_ said Ivor softly.

_"They're l-like you, Ivor?"_ the old man stammered, now thoroughly confused. _"I –I don't understand!"_

_**# I will help you understand, Mr Dinwiddy,# **_ said Idris. _**# They were indeed once like Ivor. They were steam engines that worked on another railway across the water, and the woman you saw in the tunnel was used in a ritual that gave the life-spirit to a steam engine, and she would be the binder of the magic that once held the life-spirit within these two not-men and their friends. She has somehow lost her magic, and two of the spirits contained within the living engines in her dominion have been released into the forms you see here today. These two that appear to be 'men' but are not are the life-spirits that dwelt within locomotives similar to Ivor, and they need to return to what they once were.# **_

_"But to do that, we have to save Lady, first,"_ Thomas said with some urgency to the dragon, _"which is why we came all the way here. Jeanie has something in her pocket that may help you understand what we need."_

After doing his coat back up, he then went over and unbuttoned Jeanie's to reach inside for the translation. He then handed it to Jones the Steam and said, _"These are the clues that Jeanie and Sir Topham think will help us to save Lady and get her magic back."_

Jones cast his eyes over what was written on the piece of paper, then, after looking at Thomas, who was now nodding his head, he started to read the short paragraph out loud...

_"Great Darkness strikes down the Pure One. She is stricken by the Destroyer. The Pure One shall not this time take of the Birth Water, She to drink of the Mother herself. Eternal is the Well of the Mother, Eternal is the Product of Her Well. The Winged Beast, born the way of the bird but not of the bird. He that possess the Coat of Blood, Pure is his Song. He to eat/overcome(?) – unknown glyph, T.H. – and The Burning Rock. Sacred is He that devours. She shall breathe the Spirit of Life anew."_

He then looked over to Thomas and James, and then to Idris and Mr Dinwiddy and, shrugging his shoulders at the same time, said, _"Well, I don't know what it means!"_ Looking back to the dragon, he asked, _"What about you, Idris? Can you understand it?"_

_"We believe,"_ said Thomas before the dragon could reply, _"that Lady is the Pure One, and we've got some healing water for her from the well at Glastonbury."_

_**# You are correct,# **_ said Idris. _**# The naked woman that Mr Dinwiddy saw would certainly have been a virgin. I now know of many songs that tell of such women being sacrificed long ago to my Father's Fathers, and indeed, the waters of the Ancient Mother are very good healing waters.# **_

_"A man in Glastonbury,"_ Thomas then continued, _"told us about ley lines and dragon lines and I said that there are ley lines where Lady works in Shining Time in America and Jeanie remembered that Wales has a dragon on its flag and that it was red, and when she told that to Sir Topham, he told us to come here. We have a truckload of the burning rock, good Welsh anthracite as Mr Pugh called it, and you have a coat of red, Idris, and you say that you have songs. Idris, can you help us to save Lady and get her magic back?"_

Idris snorted loudly, and two dark clouds of smoke blew out of the dragon's nostrils.

_**# You work for Hatt,# **_ he growled, _**# not-engine-nor-human. For what his blood did to my Father, I have vowed to one day hunt him down and feast on his heart. It was a man of that name among those that captured my Father by trickery many years ago, and if not for him and his friends, my Father would be here still!# **_

The dragon's "words" reverberated through Thomas's mind like the squealing brakes of a long rake of heavy coal trucks rolling down Gordon's Hill, a squealing mixed with the sound of metal being torn apart, and, just then, he felt terrified of the dragon as the intensity of its staring, coal-black eyes reached such a darkness he feared that the creature was about to turn on _him_.

_"But Sir Topham is a good man,"_ implored James, seeing the sudden look of fear on his friend's face at what the dragon had told him. _"He cares for us engines, he cares for ALL of us, even the diesels!"_

_"That's right,"_ said Thomas. _"He's always willing to help us when we have problems, and I know that he's a kind owner because he's saved some of my friends from being scraped!"_

_"And two of our friends have already died,"_ said James.

_"And my friend Gordon almost died as well!"_ said Thomas. _"Please, Idris, can you stop our other friends from dying?"_

Idris took a deep breath and then slowly exhaled black tendrils of thick smoke as he pondered over the not-men's words. He knew they were sincere, and considered the consequences of slaying Hatt and avenging his father's capture against their fate should he refuse. He knew that the engines would be greatly saddened by the death of their owner, and could even end up all being scrapped should they not find a new one who was willing to pay what it would cost to keep them working. The end result, should he avenge his father's capture, would be just as bad should he not help the not-men. It was a jagged lump of coal to swallow, he thought, as he came to his decision, the black fumes from his nostrils turning lighter until only white smoke rose into the air above his head.

_**# Your words have swayed me, not-men**__**,# **_ he said,_**# and I would be doing wrong to your fellow life-spirits if I ignored your plea, so I will forego my vow to feast upon your owner's heart, though my own burns with the thought of not avenging the loss of my sire. Now I need to hunt many fox before my rage is cool enough to do this with good intent. Rain is soon coming and I must be after crafty fox before he runs to the dry of his den. I will return after I have sated my appetite and considered what those written words truly mean,# **_ and with a mighty flap of his wings and a crack of doom that put Olwen's effort to shame, Idris shot into the air so quickly that Thomas, James and Jones were left reeling in his wake.

_"I think he's a bit upset,"_ said Jones, bending down to pick up his cap after it had been blown off his head, _"but he will do as he says and not kill your owner after he's helped you to save Lady."_

_"I hope he really can help us,"_ said Thomas, as he looked upwards when he heard raindrops spatter on his coat.

_"We need to get Jeanie inside Toad where it's warmer for her,"_ said James with some urgency.

_"And that railcar will be through here soon,"_ added Jones, checking his watch. _"I won't have time now to get back to Pugh's before it gets here, so Ivor and I will join you inside the tunnel to keep dry,"_ then, turning to the old gold prospector, he said, _"Will you join me in Ivor's cab, please, Mr Dinwiddy? We can talk more, then."_

Mr Dinwiddy, now having regained most of his composure, looked up from his rock-seat to Jones and said, _"I will indeed, my friend, indeed I will!"_

ooo

Harold was getting worried. The security guard at the coal mine had told his pilot that all the miners were on the railcar he was now following as it went over a set of points before heading north towards the start of some mountains. They'd only just missed meeting the mine owner himself, as he and the other miners had not long before boarded that very railcar to take them to a party they were having somewhere. Diesel 10 had then made a decision and instructed him to catch up to the railcar and follow it to the tunnel entrance where Edward and his friends were waiting, and now, he was not only having to watch the slowly-moving railcar as it struggled up a steep hill, but he had to be aware of any stray up draughts that might affect his flight stability. It was all so bothersome, he thought to himself, and on top of all that, from what he could see of the terrain below him, it looked like there would be nowhere for him to land!

He mentioned that to Diesel 10, and when the former diesel then told him what he was going to do, he thought that the altitude must have affected the one-time engine's mind.

_**~I say, old chap~**_ he said to the stern-looking former diesel, _**~that's a rather foolhardy idea you have there, if I may say so!~**_

_"Don't you worry about me,"_ said Diesel 10. _"I don't like it all the way up here, and it's only a few feet off the end of one of your ropes and I'll be back on the ground where I belong! I'm quite robust even though I'm no longer an engine, so I'll not get injured like a human would. Once I'm back on the ground, you can go your merry way back to Sodor and tell Sir Topham that I'll ride back with the steamies once that blue smoker has his new rod fixed on and they've finished doing whatever it is they're up to here. I could do with a break from being stuck on Sodor with those two idiots of mine!"_

_**~If you insist, old chap!~**_ said Harold. _**~If you insist! Tally-ho, then!...~**_

ooo

Everyone was now inside the tunnel and away from the shower that had quickly become a downpour and was showing no signs of abating, and, in the warmth of Ivor's cab, Jones the Steam, after he'd made a pot of tea with hot water from the engine's boiler, listened as Mr Dinwiddy told him more of what happened to him as child...

_"When I got back home, my mam saw I was upset and asked me what was the matter, but I couldn't tell her. I tried to I did, but the words just wouldn't come out of my mouth. My da got very cross with me for not saying anything and he took off his belt to me for being so stubborn. I think he was frightened he was. Frightened that I'd been in the tunnel without him and that beasty thing had nearly caught me and killed me it did. The belting I got was to make sure I never went in there ever again. As you know, Jones, these mountains carry sound everywhere they do, and neither me or my da ever heard them pull those wagons and that carriage coach back out again. _

_"The only thing to ever come back out was the little green engine they were using, then my da came home one day and said that the tunnel had been boarded up with thick wooden planks. He told me he'd stuck a stone into a small gap between two rails so that he'd know if they ever went back in there without him hearing them. The little green engine they'd been using, and I know you want to know, Ivor, my old friend, well, it was you it was!"_

_"brrP?"_ Ivor tooted quietly, not wanting to deafen his two friends, but his shock was still quite plain to hear.

_"Yes, you,"_ said Mr Dinwiddy, before blowing at his too-hot-to-drink tea. _"I've known you ever since you started working in these mountains I have, so I'd know the sound of your engine anywhere. It was that sound I was hearing whenever they used you to push wagons into this tunnel."_

_"Brrpr!"_

_"I know you don't,"_ said Mr Dinwiddy. _"A week later, when my back was a bit better, my da took me with him to Llaniog to fetch some new shovels and picks he was buying, and I saw you at the station. It didn't have a platform in those days like it has now, and anyone who was getting into the carriage coach you had behind you had to climb up a small ladder to get in they did. My da was inside the little wooden hut with Morgan the Station and I went over close to you to look at you. _

_"There was writing all over your side there was. The first letters of the Merioneth and Llantisilly Railway Traction Company Limited they were, but I didn't know that back then. I'd only just started to learn my letters in Sunday School, and there were so many of them that I often got confused and forgot some of them, and Bowen the School always shouted at me when I got them wrong. Very strict Mr Bowen was, and he had a twelve-inch round stick that he'd rap our knuckles with whenever we made too much noise or got something wrong. My right hand used to be so sore after a good rapping that I couldn't write properly, and then he'd rap my knuckles again. Where was I?"_ Mr Dinwiddy then asked, looking a bit confused.

_"Your were in Llaniog Station looking at Ivor,"_ Jones prompted.

_"Ah, yes...and I saw all those marks on the engine's side and my mind went back to what I saw that day in the tunnel and all the marks burned on the naked woman's skin, and I started crying. Then, you gave a little toot on your whistle and I heard a voice in my head asking me what was the matter. 'What's the matter, little boy?' you said. 'Why are you crying?'. I looked round for whoever it was that was asking me but there was no-one else there. My da was still in the hut with Morgan the Station and I could see your driver over by the water tower he was. There was no-one else there and I was scared, thinking that someone was playing a jest on me, and then I got more scared and cried even more."_

_"brrp!"_

_"Yes, my friend, that was a long time ago it was,"_ said Mr Dinwiddy, smiling. _"I was to learn some years after that that you are a one-off. There's no other engine been made like you."_

_"It's true what Mr Dinwiddy says, Ivor," _said Jones. _"You are the only one of your model that was ever built. I heard whispers from the other shunters that came to Llaniog at times that you were some sort of experiment. I thought they just meant experimental engine, but now, I know what they really meant."_

_"BrP!"_

_"Yes, you ARE very special indeed, Ivor,"_ chuckled Jones.

_"Then,"_ said Mr Dinwiddy, _"you gave another little toot and the voice spoke in my head again it did. It said 'Don't be scared, little boy. It's me, the engine. I'm talking to you!" and then, like magic, I somehow KNEW that it was the engine speaking to me, and it was talking to me inside my HEAD! 'Who are you?' I asked you. I said it out loud I did, thinking that you could hear me, and you must have, because, next thing, there was another little toot on your whistle and then the voice in my head said 'My name's Ivor!'."_

_"brprrb"_ Ivor then gently blew.

_"You STILL remember that day, Ivor?"_ asked Jones with wonder in his voice. Then, to his old friend, he laughed, _"That means that you're absolutely ancient, Mr Dinwiddy!"_

_"I suppose it does,"_ chuckled the old man.

_"I was looking through a local history book," _said Jones, tipping away his tea after forgetting to drink it, "_that I bought in Mrs Griffith's Antiquarian shop, and I read that Llaniog didn't have a brick station or a platform until in the twenties after the Great War. How do you stay so fit for being so old, Mr Dinwiddy?"_

_"I think it's the air in these mountains, Jones the Steam,"_ Mr Dinwiddy said jovially. _"Either that or I've got a bit of magical gold dust in my veins!"_

A few minutes later, after he'd made a fresh pot of tea, Jones said, _"Mr Dinwiddy, I think Thomas and James should hear all this, after all, it might be connected to what they've got to do to save their magical friend."_

_"I think you're right, Jones I do,"_ Mr Dinwiddy said, nodding his head and turning round to climb down from Ivor's cab. _"I wonder how that poor woman is, now?"_

_"We'll soon find out,"_ said Jones, joining his old friend in the narrow gap between the little green engine and the tunnel wall. _"I hope she's feeling better. Wait a minute, Mr Dinwiddy, we need a lamp to see where we're going!"_

Taking Ivor's headlamp off his front buffer beam, Jones led Mr Dinwiddy along the narrow gap, squeezing past the occasional wooden upright that supported the tunnel's crossbeams as they worked their way along to the brakevan, a patch of dim light on the tunnel wall ahead of them from the lamps inside giving them an idea of how far they had to go. Finally, they were there, and Jones helped his old friend up onto the brakevan's veranda.

Jones quietly opened the door to step inside and saw that Jeanie appeared to be fast asleep on a small bunk. Thomas or maybe James had put a blanket over her as far as her shoulders, leaving just her head sticking out on top of a pillow.

_"How is she?"_ he asked Thomas who was currently sitting on a wooden chair and sipping at his own cup of tea. James was warming up something in a small saucepan on top of the van's little stove burner.

_"She hasn't moved for a while, but I have heard a few little snores from her."_

_"If I was you,"_ said Jones, conspiratorially, _"I wouldn't tell her THAT when she wakes up, after all, you saw how Olwen reacted with Idris earlier on when HE told her something she didn't like!"_

Thomas smiled back and, nodding his head, said, _"I think you're right, Mr Jones. It'll have to stay our secret."_

_"Thomas, James,"_ the short engine driver then said in a more serious voice, _"Mr Dinwiddy has just been telling me something that might have something to do with your mission to save Lady, but I think we'd better speak outside in case we disturb Jeanie. It'd be better to leave her sleeping for now, I think."_

The two former engines joined Jones and Mr Dinwiddy out on Toad's veranda, and listened as the old man repeated what he'd not long ago told Jones in Ivor's cab.

When he got to the part about what his father had done with a small stone, James exclaimed, much to Thomas' disapproval in case he woke up Jeanie, _"So THAT'S what I heard Toad's wheel go over!"_

_"I saw that stone,"_ said Jones, _"when Ivor and I came here the very first time to wait for Idris, but him being only a little engine, even when we had a coal truck with us, we never went far back enough to crush it."_

_"Then,"_ said Thomas, _"that means nobody's brought a train into this tunnel ever since it was sealed up!"_

_"You're right,"_ said Jones. _"We'll have to go and look to see if those wagons are still in that cavern Mr Dinwiddy told us about. What do you think, Mr Dinwiddy?"_

_"I wouldn't like to go in there again I wouldn't,"_ replied the old man with a slight shake of his head. _"It was right scary the first time I was in there it was."_

_"But, Mr Dinwiddy,"_ said Jones, _"if Idris' da WAS in there, and don't forget that he's dead now, his body might still be there. We've got to find out for Idris' sake!"_

Mr Dinwiddy gave a deep sigh, and said, _"You are right, of course, Jones the Steam. You are right you are. We'll do it for him, but I need to tell you all about what Ivor told me that day."_

_"You're right, Mr Dinwiddy,"_ said Jones, _"please, tell us what old Ivor told you."_

_"Well,"_ the old man started, looking to Jones' friends to make sure they were listening, _"I told the engine that I'd seen him in the tunnel that day, but the engine said that I must be wrong as he couldn't remember being in there. He'd only been alive for two days, he told me, and starting to work for The Merioneth and Llantisilly Railway Traction Company Limited is the first thing he remembers, he said, and he'd only been going to Tan-y-Gwlch and back in all that time."_

_"What that mean's,"_ said Jones, _"is that however Ivor gained the ability to speak, and if he can't remember being in the tunnel, it must have happened some time after he'd come out and before he started working for the company. I wonder what they did to him, the poor old soul!"_

_"Whatever they did, if you ask me,"_ said Mr Dinwiddy, _"it's likely to have something to do with naked women, dragons, and men dressed up in strange clothes chanting foreign words it has."_

_"Maybe we've got to do something like that to save Lady,"_ said Thomas, looking first at James and then to Jones the Steam.

_"I hope not I don't,"_ said Mr Dinwiddy, staring wild-eyed at Thomas. _"Nobody should be eaten alive by a dragon for anything like that!"_

_"Idris will tell us wha-"_ Jones started, but was interrupted by a loud scream from inside the brakevan, and Thomas and James rushed back in to comfort Jeanie as she cried out and before she started to panic, then, she started struggling against their efforts to hold her still, trying to throw off the blanket they'd put over her earlier.

_"HE-EELP!"_ she shouted, her head violently shaking back and forth.

_"JEANIE!"_ Thomas said loudly, _"YOU'RE SAFE! IDRIS HAS GONE! HE'S NOT HERE NOW!"_

_"WHA-wha-w-w-where am I?"_ she whimpered, suddenly confused by all the close bodies around her as both Jones and Mr Dinwiddy entered the brakevan. _"Ooh, m-m-my head hurts a-a-and I'm aching all o-MHMM...MHMM-"_ her eyes went wide and she started nodding her head quite quickly towards the small hinged table flap upon which lay a plastic bowl.

Thomas looked over his shoulder, not sure what she wanted, then she managed to get one of her arms free and pointed a rapidly shaking finger at the bowl.

Jones saw what Jeanie was doing and, recognising what her bulging cheeks and frantically-staring eyes implied, quickly grabbed the bowl and forced himself between the two former engines, holding the bowl under her chin just in time as she emptied her stomach of any remains after her earlier bout of sickness.

_"Graaargh! Oh...I feel better after that!"_ she murmured, then, after a little cough to clear her throat, she let out a contented sigh and lay back onto the bunk. Thomas and James relaxed their hold on her and stepped away from the bunk to give her some room

_"What happened to you when you were outside, Jeanie?"_ Thomas asked her, his voice full of concern.

_"I...I'm not sure...I don't know,"_ she replied weakly. _"One minute I'm having all these wild thoughts in my head about...about what I'm doing here, next thing, I'm puking on the ground. Then I think James has fallen over and when I look up there's this fucking great big dragon staring at me and I'm, like, scared shitless and I go back as fast as I can and I hurt back when I banged into Ivor, and there's two small ones there as well and then another one of those fucking things up is in the sky and then, next thing, it fucking dive-bombs at me! Fuck!"_

Her audience watched and listened without interrupting, each of them seeing her wide, staring eyes just gazing straight ahead into space as she told of her experience. Questions could wait, they knew.

_"I was shitting myself,"_ Jeanie continued, still staring at nothing discernable, _"I thought it was going to kill me, and then I piss myself and next thing it's right on top of me and then...then I hear the most beautiful thing I've ever heard in my life and then I'm, like, I'm in...I'm in Heaven and all the angels are singing at me, or that's what it felt like, and then I was, like, floating in space, not touching anything and just floating there in nothingness, all black around me and then I started to hurt so much I wanted to die because of the pain I was feeling. I thought God had sent me to Hell for doing something wrong and then my body, like, exploded and everything was hurting," _she started sobbing,_ "and then...then the pain went away...and everything went black again...and...and I couldn't see or hear anything. I...I was just floating about in...in just black. Then I woke up screaming, still...still thinking that fucking thing was about to b-b-bite my head off!"_

Jeanie then seemed to recover her senses and started breathing deeply after speaking and crying at the same time, and Jones took the opportunity to go outside and tip the bowl's contents into the darkness of the tunnel, hearing it splash onto the rocky floor before returning back inside.

_"Where'd it go?"_ he heard Jeanie ask as he re-entered the lamp-lit brakevan.

_"Have they all gone?"_ she then asked anxiously, her eyes darting around the interior of the brakevan, searching for any sign of the red creature that had terrified her so. _"Are they still outside? Fuck! Is it night already?"_ She'd caught a glimpse of black when Jones opened the brakevan's door and naturally assumed that she'd been outers for several hours.

_"It is, now,"_ said James. "_It started raining, so we moved everything inside the tunnel to keep dry."_

_"We're in the tunnel?"_ Jeanie asked him, her voice sharp.

_"Yes,"_ he replied.

_"Shit!"_ said Jeanie, _"that's all I need!"_

There were now TWO people with personal demons to conquer in the tunnel.

_"I want to know where those fucking monsters have gone!"_ she insisted.

_"Jeanie,"_ said Jones in a soothing tone of voice, _"once you get to know Idris and his family, you'll realise they're not monsters at all. Idris is one of the most kindest, er, friends I've got, AND Olwen and the children. You mustn't think of them as being nasty or vicious like in horror films or anything, and I think Idris would be quite hurt if he heard you say he was a monster. Give him a chance, please, Jeanie, after all, you'll be meeting him again in the morning."_ Just as the words left his mouth, Jones thought that it may not have been the wisest thing to say right then.

_"Like fuck I will,"_ Jeanie vehemently replied.

_"Jeanie,"_ said Thomas, thinking to try a different approach. _"Idris told us what happened to you and why you fell ill."_

_"What?"_ Jeanie asked incredulously. _"You mean, he can speak to people like you like all the fucking trains can? I've fucking heard it all, now,"_ she muttered to herself, slowly shaking her head. _"I've gone fucking mad!"_

_"Oh, no, young missy,"_ said Mr Dinwiddy, _"You're not the mad one around here. I'm the only crazy fool in these mountains I am! You've just gotten the shitty end of the stick!"_

_"What?"_ asked Jeanie. _"You're the mad old gold digger, yeah? Well, I must be as mad as you to be mixed up in all this craziness!"_

_"No, Jeanie,"_ said Jones, then, _"Mr Dinwiddy's right. You're not mad. Idris explained it to us. Because your magical engine had already lost her magic when your boss gave you your job, you only had part of the railway magic from him. You didn't get any magic from her to balance it, and that was why it never settled properly in your mind, and that's what caused you to pass out when you met Idris, as he has the same kind of magic your boss has, and it overwhelmed you. You need to get the female magic from Lady for you to be well again, then you can hear Edward when he speaks to you. Until then, you'll still be confused."_

_"So,..."_ said Jeanie, pausing a few moments to think over what Ivor's driver had just said to her, _"what you're saying is, right, we've got to save Lady, she gets her magic back and gives some to me, and then I'll be okay again, yeah?"_

_"That's right,"_ said Thomas. _"We told Idris the translation and he said that we've got the right things, then I asked him if he'd help us and he said he would. Now, he's gone away to work out what he's got to do to save Lady."_

_"That...that's great!"_ said Jeanie, her eyes now showing eagerness to complete their mission, _"but, Mr Jones, you said just now that he'll be back in the morning, didn't you?"_ Jeanie's eyes had now changed to accusing,

_"Yes, I did,"_ he replied, and Jones was now beginning to appreciate just how confused the poor young woman actually was as her internal battle swung back and fore and changed her mental outlook on things. _"I don't know if Olwen and Gaian and Blodwen will be with him, though. They had an argument, you see, and she flew off with the children in a huff and he doesn't think she's too pleased with him."_

Jeanie, hearing the innocuous way in which Jones had spoken of the dragons as though they were just ordinary people instead of the fire-breathing, virgin-eating monsters of legend and fantasy films she'd always believed them to be, then started laughing hysterically, and Jones, looking rather bemused, turned to Thomas and asked, _"Was it something I said?"_

After a few minutes, during which the men had talked quietly amongst themselves as Jeanie tried to calm herself down, now and again failing her attempt to stifle a fit of the giggles as she compared the female dragon's actions against those of a typical housewife, she finally seemed to regain her awareness of just where she was and the state she was in.

_"Guys!"_ she called out. _"If you don't mind, I still need to get out of these stinking clothes and wash all this sick and piss off me, so, how about a little bit of privacy, yeah?"_

The four men, including the very apologetic Jones the Steam, quickly exited the brakevan and closed the veranda door behind them, then, all speaking together...

_"I'll go and tell Edward what's happening,"_ said James.

_"I think I'll go with you, Jones the Steam I will!"_

_"I'll start slackening off the wagons' brakes,"_ said Thomas.

"_I'll go and get Ivor ready,"_ said Jones the Steam.

ooo

_"Years later,"_ said Mr Dinwiddy as he and Jones carefully worked their way back to Ivor was waiting, _"when I was a young man, I came here again and the stone was still stuck in the rails, and I knew that nothing had been in or out in all that time it didn't. I knew that nothing had come out the other side of the mountain, either, because I walked all round it looking for an exit, and there wasn't any there wasn't. There was no tunnel built at the coal mine in those days, either, and to this day still, there's only this entrance and no other way out there isn't!"_

An echoing rumble then rolled through the tunnel as the railcar passed by, making its way back to Llanmad, and the almost ear-deafening noise brought a halt to their chatting and their walking as they waited for the noise to abate.

Once the rumbling noise had gone and the tunnel was silent again, silent except for Ivor's gentle chuffing which was getting louder with every step they took, they continued on until they reached Ivor, and Jones placed his lamp back onto the engine's front buffer beam. Then, as he went over to climb up into the cab, and just as he was about to place his foot onto the low step, he paused for a moment, cocked his head towards the tunnel entrance, and said, _"She sounds a bit rough today does Old Gladys. What do you think, Ivor?"_

It was that dark outside, especially with the thick rain clouds overhead, he noticed that he couldn't even see the outside, and it only a few yards away!

_"brrp!"_ said Ivor.

_"Yes,"_ laughed Jones, holding on to the cab's handrail, _"she does sound like she's got a new engine, and it's about time, too, I say. She's always struggled to get up past Smoke Hill on her way to Tewyn!"_ Jones then picked up the conversation he'd just been having with Mr Dinwiddy

_"I asked Llewellyn the Jack about the tunnel at Pugh's when we went back to get these tools, and he said that it only goes in for about fifty feet, and they use it to store machinery and their two fork-lifts."_

_"Oh, I could have told you that,"_ laughed Mr Dinwiddy as he stepped into the cab to stand next to Jones, _"but you never asked me you didn't! If I remember rightly, though, they built that back in the sixties, and when they started to build it, I thought they were going to connect it to this one, but they didn't. They hit some rock apparently that was the wrong sort for tunnelling in they did. That's what Pugh's old boss once told me he did. As far as THIS tunnel is concerned, though, there's only this way in and no way out there isn't!"_

_"That's right,"_ said Jones, pulling himself up into the warm cab, and as he turned to get some coal from the little bunker behind the cab, he thought he saw something moving in the tunnel. _It's probably the rain outside,_ he told himself.

_"Watch as you step in here, Mr Dinwiddy,"_ he then called down to his elderly friend. _"Remember, there's all these tools over the floor!"_

A few minutes later and Ivor's fire was burning well, while Edward's had already been damped down to stop too much smoke getting into the tunnel. This being the first time any of them, except for Mr Dinwiddy, had been in there, they didn't know whether there was any ventilation or not, and it was best to play safe. Once the little engine's steam pressure were right, though, he gave a little "brp!" to let the others know he was ready to move them further into the tunnel. As they set off, neither Jones who was too occupied with listening for a shout from Thomas, who was walking in front of Toad with a lantern in order to see where they were going, nor Mr Dinwiddy, who was nervously looking down the tunnel in the direction they were moving as he worried over what he might see when they got to the large cavern, were aware of the figure holding the replacement coupling rod in his prosthetic right arm as he crept carefully along the side of the track behind them.

Diesel 10 felt his way along the tunnel wall with his left hand, and stopped when he came into contact with the second of the wooden support columns as an idea came to him, an idea that would finally solve his "steamy" problem once and for all! _There's no other way out, that man just said, _he thought to himself. _This is perfect! _He then crouched down and started to run his fingers up the where the wooden column met the rock wall of the tunnel until he found what he was searching for, then he found it. He stepped back a bit and hefted up the coupling rod, then, holding it parallel with the tunnel wall, he powerfully rammed one end of it into the hollow depression his fingers had found behind the column, wedging it tightly. Still holding the rod parallel, he sidled a few feet to his left until he was holding the other end of the long rod, and, raising his left foot to place it against the tunnel wall for support, he heaved backwards with all his might.

As the creaking wooden column started to come away from the rock wall, Diesel 10 quickly pulled the rod out from behind it and rammed it back in again, this time the end of the rod went all the way behind the column, giving him better leverage, and he gave another mighty heave backwards until, finally, the column started splintering as it broke in half and the thick wooden roof beam it was supporting fell to the ground next to him, along with several tons of rock that dropped down onto the track and tunnel floor with a loud crash. Quickly letting go of the coupling rod, Diesel 10 ran for his life out of the tunnel and away from the falling rubble until he was outside in the pouring rain, not caring about the soaking he was getting as, when he stopped to look back towards the tunnel entrance, all he could see to accompany the ear-shattering sound of falling rock was a large, grey cloud of dust billowing out to compete with the darkness of nightfall.

Smiling to himself with his success, he started to walk back to the coal mine, his joy and pride at having thwarted the steamies' mission to save Lady swelling inside him with every step he took. He thought about what he would tell Sir Topham when he got back to Sodor. _Yes,_ he mused, _I'll tell him that Thomas didn't want my help as he didn't trust us diesels and so I left the tools and coupling rod with them and came back on Harold instead of staying behind to help them. It'll be nice to be inside that warm helicopter again even if it's not so nice being all that high up in the air!_ Then, he stopped walking, standing stock-still in the middle of the track and letting the rain get under his collar to work its way down his back as he remembered that, instead of waiting for him at the coal mine, he'd told the helicopter to go back to Sodor. Just as the steamies had been until he'd buried them under a mountain's worth of rock, he was now stuck in the mountains of North Wales with no way of getting back home again!

ooOOoo

Welsh Glossary:

Da – Father

Dadcu - Grandfather

Duw, Duw – The welsh way of using God as an exclamation or interjection. Pronounced "diw-diw" or "djiw-djiw".


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Idris had caught and eaten several foxes before they could get to the shelter of their dens and out of the torrential rain, but the cooling-effect the downpour was having on his body told him that he needed to "top-up" on some of Pugh's finest-grade anthracite from the stock-pile at the mine. The presence of the four dragons was, to the local population, a common "secret", and Pugh didn't really mind the loss of a few hundredweight of his coal now and again whenever the dragons felt a bit peckish. Now heading back over the mountains to Smoke Hill, he glimpsed a flash of something small and white moving at the lower edge of his vision, and angled his flight path to investigate.

As his altitude decreased, he saw that it was a sheep that had been trying to find shelter from the rain and had wandered off the edge of a cliff-face, and, by the look of it, had fallen onto the boulders below, breaking one of its legs in the process. An agreement Idris had made with the local sheep farmers was that they wouldn't bother him and family if the only sheep the dragons ate were ones such as this one, ie, victims of falls and other such incidences, and not their healthy livestock. He therefore saw nothing wrong in finishing off his ad-hoc mealtime with a rare delicacy, as it wasn't often he'd come across an injured but live sheep such as this one, besides, the animal would only be left to suffer otherwise, he thought to himself, and eagerly dove down.

The taste of the ewe helped to finally clear away Idris' ire to nothing more than a memory and, as he licked his razor-sharp talons clean of entrails and some clumps of wool, he turned his mind back to home. Just as he readied himself to take fight, though, faint but regular subtle vibrations in the rocks beneath his feet told him that Gladys the railcar was approaching on the main line some distance away, and as she neared the mountain he was on, a heavy throbbing sound accompanying them caused him to crane his neck up into the rain-filled air as he tried to discern where and what it was he could hear. It was definitely something airborne, and then, the heavy throbbing suddenly increased and a buffeting down-draught from the massive white round shape right above him forced him to flatten himself against the bottom of the cliff-face lest he be seen. It was one of the flying machines the humans used, a helicopter.

Turning his head to follow the aircraft's flight, he watched it slowly pass over him and out of sight over the top of the cliff-face. He'd seen the yellow rescue helicopter from Anglesey flying near Smoke Hill before when people got lost or stuck on the mountains, and had always made sure not to fly anywhere near them lest he be seen, and he hoped that this white one wasn't looking for _him_. It seemed, by the different sound it was making, that it was hovering somewhere not too far away, somewhere near the tunnel entrance, then it began moving away, the different noise of its engine telling Idris that it was following the railway line between the mountains. The noise of its engine eventually dwindled away until the only thing he could hear was the howling wind and the hissing of raindrops against his now hot scales. The vibrations his sensitive feet could feel from the railcar had also gone, but he waited at the foot of the cliff-face for a bit more until he was confident the helicopter wasn't coming back. He readied himself again to take flight, but just as he was about to take off, the ground he was standing on suddenly shook violently and there was a mighty rumble and crashing of rocks. Alarmed, he shot up to the air_. #Has that helicopter crashed?#_ he wondered, and flew over towards the railway line to see what had happened.

As he approached the area of the tunnel entrance, he noticed a change in the pattern of the ground below him. Beating his wings to hover over the track, he looked both up and down the line, but couldn't see any wreckage from the helicopter, Diesel Ten having ran far enough away from the collapsing mountain to be out of sight. From the rocks and rubble that was strewn over the tracks coming out from the old tunnel, though, it was obvious that the roof just inside the entrance had collapsed. Fearful for the humans he knew were inside, he flew down and approached the rock-filled entrance. As he peered inside, he thought to himself, _#I'll need some help,#_ and took off again to fetch Olwen and the children.

ooo

Diesel Ten turned up the collar of his jacket and started walking along the track. It would take him a fair while, he knew, but he was happy enough with his current situation, knowing that he'd finally gotten rid of Thomas the tank engine for good and spoiled any plan that Sir Topham had to save the accursed magical engine, Lady. He was bound to reach a station somewhere further up the line where he could sneak on board a train away from here. Now, though, all he had to do was to work out how he could work his way back into Sir Topham's good books, as well as work with the sly welshman planning to take over the Sodor railways. He wasn't sure if the man was all that trustworthy, and he certainly didn't trust that old steamy in the shipping container, Tyrone, either. Maybe he could arrange another little "accident", he thought, and get rid of _him_ as well! Smiling, despite the rain working its way under his collar and running down his back, he began walking and to start making new plans.

ooo

Rocks bounced and clanged against Ivor's sides and rear buffers as Jones struggled to control his panic, torn between opening up the little engine's regulator to get away from the falling rocks and not running over Thomas, whom he knew was further down the tunnel and walking ahead of the brake van. After the initial loud thump of a seemingly large rock hitting the ground behind them so hard that they felt Ivor himself shake, any shouts of panic and alarm were lost amidst the tremendous cacophony of noise the other falling rocks and boulders made, then, after a few moments, the noise subsided, leaving only some hissing and the rhythmic mechanical sounds of Ivor's engine to be heard. Jones looked behind him and, by the light of the lantern in Ivor's cab, saw Mr Dinwiddy crouching down against the coal bunker, his arms held protectively over his head. _"Are you all right, Mr Dinwiddy?"_ he asked. _"I... I think it's stopped,"_ he added quietly, fearful that too loud a noise, even his own voice, might set off another roof-fall. He decided it would be wise to stop and check with the others that they were all right, and closed off Ivor's regulator and applied the engine's brakes.

_"Wha... what happened?"_ Mr Dinwiddy gasped, slowly pulling himself up and peering over the top of the coal bunker.

_"I think it was the vibrations we made as we started moving,"_ said Jones, still in a hushed tone, _"after all, there haven't been any trains in here since it was boarded up. James did say there were some rocks on the track when he came in here to have a look after we took the planks down. They'd probably fallen from the roof some time and it only needed us being inside here now to disturb the rest of them. I hope the others are okay."_

_"Are you both all right, Mr Jones, Mr Dinwiddy?"_

Thomas' sudden voice from the track behind him caused Jones to jump and almost bump his head.

_"Yes,"_ he replied. _"A bit shaken, though. What about James and Jeanie?"_

_"They're okay as well,"_ said Thomas, holding his lamp up to try and see the entrance. _"What happened?"_

_"I think it was the vibrations we were making, and Gladys passing by, that set it off,"_ said Jones. _"She passed by not long before it happened. What with that and the roof beams likely being a bit weak, well, something must have moved and they gave way. We were lucky not to be hurt, but Ivor took a few bumps on his cab roof and boiler. Are you okay, Ivor?"_

_"brp,"_ said Ivor softly as he, too, was quite aware that they may inadvertently cause another collapse.

_"Well,"_ continued Jones, _"we've got no choice now but to carry on and hope the tunnel will take us somewhere."_

_"You're right,"_ agreed Jones. _"Imagine the look on Pugh's face, though, if it does come out at his pit and he comes back tomorrow morning to see us there waiting for him!"_

_"Hee-hee,"_ chortled Mr Dinwiddy, amused by the thought of the miner's surprise.

_"And then we can make an early start on repairing Edward,"_ said Thomas. _"I'll get James and Jeanie to pass on any instructions to you so that I don't have to shout so loud."_

_"Good idea,"_ said Jones. _"I'll wait for a signal before releasing Ivor's brakes. Seeing as it's a downward gradient in here, I think it'll be better if we release the handbrakes on the wagons and just let our weight start us rolling."_

_"Yes,"_ said Thomas, nodding. _"I'll borrow your shunting pole and do it as I go back. Wait for a call from James." _

Jones watched the light from the lamp bobbing its way back down the tunnel, being lowered to the ground occasionally as Thomas levered down the handbrake and pulled out their retaining pins. He waited a couple of minutes and then heard James' voice call out, _"Okay, Mr Jones, whenever you're ready!"_

Jones then released Ivor's brakes and wound his regulator just enough to give the wagons in front of Ivor enough of a push to get them rolling down the gentle gradient, both feeling the jerking hearing and clanking of buffers from the motley procession. As he listened again for any warning shouts or more instructions, he now and again gave the little engine just enough steam to stop them from stopping.

_"Bend ahead!"_ he suddenly heard James call out, then, seconds later, _"Stop!"_

He closed Ivor's regulator and quickly applied the brakes, hoping there wasn't anything serious amiss.

For a minute or so, all he could hear was Ivor's gentle "whooshing" before the glow of James' cab lamp could be seen lighting up the tunnel as he walked up to stand beside Ivor.

_"Thomas says,"_ said James, _"for you both to come and see what he's found, and to bring your lamp with you."_

_"What's he found?"_ asked Jones.

_"I don't know,"_ said James_, "but he seemed very excited."_

ooo

_**##Wait,##**_ Idris told Olwen and the children.

Cautiously, he stepped nearer the tunnel entrance, fearful of another rock-fall and of being buried. Suddenly being flattened by tonnes of rock and rubble wouldn't give him the freedom of movement that needed in order to dig himself back out again, and he'd be stuck until Olwen could get him back out, and it would be dangerous for _her_ as well. Peering through the gloomy rain into the entrance of the tunnel, he saw that an area near the bottom of the fallen rock seemed a bit darker than the rest. Looking up at the blockage, he saw then that a massive slab of rock had fallen down from the roof and lodged itself at an angle against the tunnel wall, leaving a little space underneath that, he reckoned, he might just be able to squeeze himself into to see how far he could go.

Carefully, he crawled under the slab, finding that he had to go down onto his knees if he wanted to move any further. Inch by inch, he worked himself forward, both hearing and feeling his back and wings scrape against the slab every time he moved, taking great care not to push against the rock lest he disturb it. It was quieter now, the sound of the rain outside blocked out by his own body, and he cocked his head to listen out for any other sounds, sounds that would tell him if there was anyone still alive, but he couldn't hear anything. After he'd been wriggling his way for about ten minutes, he decided to see how far he had left to go, hoping that none of the humans were laying unconscious just ahead of him and that he burn them, so, and also due in part to the pressing weight of the slab above him, he could only inhale a short breath...

A dragon's digestive tract has a second "stomach" chamber that connects back its throat by means of a consciously-controlled valve, which leads to a tube in which, over the millennia, special glands have formed. These glands, using by-products from the dragon's diet of animal and coal, produce hydrocarbons, especially methane and octane, and are controlled by the dragon's nervous system. There are also glands nearby that produce an oxidant and, most importantly, a highly flammable liquid fuel. When exhaled into the atmosphere, this liquid combination of hydrocarbons, oxidant and fuel creates the fire that dragons are famous for, and it was fortunate that Idris had "stocked up" on some good Welsh anthracite not long before. It was this clever and unique process that allowed him to illuminate the cramped, dark space ahead of him, and saw that he still had several yards to crawl until he would be past the rock-fall and inside the tunnel itself.

It wasn't until after nearly twenty minutes of slow wriggling that he could finally stand upright inside the tunnel. Still feeling a bit squashed, he flexed his wings rather awkwardly within the width of the tunnel to relieve them of their cramped stiffness, before letting them settle back into place at his sides. He let out another cautious blast of flame, but there was nothing to see inside the tunnel except the tracks, the disused lamps hanging from the surviving roof beams and columns, and the tunnel wall itself. _#They've obviously gone further down. I hope none of them are hurt.#_

As though to confirm his thought, he heard some shouts and the sound of Ivor's engine echo up the tunnel, but there was no trace of panic or alarm in the shouts, they were more like instructions, and he believed that his friends had been lucky and escaped the rock-fall without major incident. _#Good.#_

Turning back to face the crawl-space he'd just emerged from, he called through for Olwen and the children to come through, and to take care as they did so. He knew they'd be all right, though, as they were all smaller than him, and seeing as _he'd _gotten through there, they certainly would.

ooo

_"My word,"_ said Jones.

_"How big is this place?"_ asked Jeanie.

Even with the lamps they were all holding, they still couldn't see the cavern's far walls. What they did see, however, was that the procession led by Toad the brake van had stopped a couple of feet short of a triple set of points that ran across the cavern floor.

_"This is where it happened!"_ cried Mr Dinwiddy, jumping excitedly. _"This is where I saw it all happen!"_

_"Look, over by there!"_ said James, pointing over to the right.

The others looked to where he was pointing and, on the rightmost of the three tracks the line they were standing on had split into, and approximately forty-foot long and looping around a bare, flat area of ground between that and the centre length of track, they saw a lone cage wagon.

_"That's the one they kept Idris' father in!"_ Mr Dinwiddy eagerly told them. _"See, I was right! I was right I was!"_

Jones walked over to the wagon and held his lamp up against the iron bars so that he could see inside, but all he could see were the dried-out remains of a bale of straw and some bones from a small animal, maybe from a fox or lamb that had been thrown into the cage for Idris' father to feed on. Looking at the thick wooden planks that made up the floor of the cage, he made out some deep gouges where the trapped dragon must have tried to dig his way out. Right then, he felt so sad for his friend Idris, swallowing as a lump came up to his throat. Turning away from the prison cage, he said, _"Let's look around to see what else is in here."_

Seeing Thomas, James and Jeanie walking into the darkness along the middle track, he and Mr Dinwiddy went over to the one on the other side of the cavern, soon realising that they were in the continuation of the main tunnel line.

_"We'll walk on a bit to check there's been no more roof-falls," _he said to Mr Dinwiddy. _"I think they used that cavern as a handy place to store their equipment in and to shunt the wagons used to bring rubble out."_

_"Sounds about right," _said Mr Dinwiddy, walking beside him and holding on to Jones' elbow, _"and to sacrifice young, naked women. Oh dearie me!" _

The track that Thomas and his two friends were walking along went on for about a hundred feet or so before coming to a stop against the rocky wall of the cavern next to a low, wood-built platform. On the other side of the platform, they saw the end of the line that the cage wagon was on.

_"This,"_ said Thomas, _"must have been where they loaded and unloaded their stuff."_

_"It's like this mountain is hollow inside,"_ said Jeanie, looking up as she tried to see the cavern roof.

_"Look there,"_ said James, pointing to where the platform stopped a few yards short of the cavern wall.

In the space were bits of ancient drilling machinery and some broken picks and shovels. There was an up-turned wheelbarrow minus its wheel, and a length of wood with what looked like wooden rungs sticking out of it. There was a wooden crate about six-foot or so long, and its lid was nailed shut.

_"Do... do you think,"_ said Jeanie, _"that that is what Mr Dinwiddy saw those men carrying in?"_

_"Maybe,"_ said Thomas, and he jumped down to take a closer look at it. _"Hey, there's something carved onto the lid!"_

James and Jeanie both climbed down after him and held their lamps close to the crate to see what he'd found. The carving, from what Jeanie make of it, was like nothing she'd ever seen before. It was a sort of cross between the hieroglyphics used by Ancient Egyptians and stick-figure writing. Above and below the unusual script were other marks, most of them quite similar to those she'd seen earlier that day on both the former engines' bare chests. She shivered.

_"I-I don't know w-w-what it m-means,"_ she stammered.

_"Let's open it!"_ said James, putting his lamp down and grabbing onto the side of the lid.

_"Fuck no! Ow!"_ cried Jeanie, stepping back so quickly in fear that she bumped into the wooden platform and fell onto her backside.

_"Yes, let's!"_ said Thomas, and he, too, put down his lamp to help his friend heave the lid off.

After a bit of effort, it came away with a series of loud creaks as the nails someone had used many decades ago to seal it shut gave up their hold.

Carefully putting the lid down onto the ground, Thomas picked up his lamp and held it over the now-open crate. _"Well, so much for that!"_ he said.

James peered into the crate and let out a quiet, _"Oh!"_

Jeanie, now feeling only slightly anxious after seeing their reactions, asked, _"What's in there?"_

_"Apart from some dust and old cobwebs,"_ said Thomas, _"it's empty."_

James helped Jeanie to her feet and they followed Thomas as he started to slowly walk across the empty space between the two tracks. He was holding his lamp in front of him and appeared to be looking for something, for he occasionally stooped down and used his free hand to brush away some of the decades-long accumulation of dust before getting up and doing the same thing a couple of feet away.

_"What are you looking for, Thomas?"_ asked James.

_"Somewhere around here must be where they did whatever it was to that woman,"_ he said_. "Come on, you two, help me look!"_

_"What are we looking for?"_ asked James.

_"I don't know,"_ said Thomas. _"What do YOU think, Jeanie?"_

_"I-I'm not sure,"_ she replied quietly, casting her eyes over the ground as she slowly swung her lamp from side to side, using the edge of her shoe to move some of the dust away. She wasn't sure that she wanted to find anything, never mind not knowing what it was she was supposed to be looking for.

The three friends continued slowly worked their way over the open space, none of them seeing anything particularly odd-looking or unusual, then Jeanie saw James drop down onto on his knees and quickly clear away the dust in front of him. _"What have you found?"_ she asked him.

_"Come and look!"_ he called back to her. _"There's some darker patches of ground by here,"_ then, turning his head, he asked, _"Is this what you're looking for, Thomas?"_

Jeanie and Thomas walked over to where James was still clearing away dust, and Thomas also got down to help, now with both hands. Eventually, they both stopped and moved back slightly to get a better look. Jeanie held her lamp near the ground to see better what they'd uncovered. _"Oh... my... God!"_ she gasped, her free hand rising up to cover her mouth in shock, or was it panic?. She wasn't quite sure which.

_"What is it?"_ asked Thomas, looking at her with concern.

_"It... it's all true!"_ she cried, pointing to the ground. _"Look... look at its shape!"_

Thomas pulled Jeanie back to get a clearer view and held out his lamp to illuminate what James had found and what had alarmed Jeanie. _"Oh, dear,"_ he said quietly, seeing it for what it was.

_"Ooh,"_ said James. Somewhere, deep in the back of his mind, he knew he'd seen something like this before, but not in black and grey. He couldn't recall where he'd seen it, or even when, but he felt a sense of familiarity with what he was looking at, and he was pretty sure that the colour red was involved instead of black. Redirecting his thoughts back to the present, he looked again at what they'd uncovered and nodded his head.

Quite unmistakably on the ground in front of them and in the middle of what looked like super-heated rock, was the lighter silhouette of a human being with his or her arms and legs outstretched. Just a couple of inches away from the outstretched limbs and in the same lighter shade, there were small, round-ish patches of ground, as though something had been positioned there when the super-hot flame had incinerated everything before it.

When Jones and Mr Dinwiddy got back to the cavern, they saw their three friends in a huddle and staring at the ground. _"What are you looking at?"_ Jones asked them.

_"We've... we've found where the woman that Mr Dinwiddy saw was s-s-sacrificed,"_ said Jeanie.

On hearing that, Mr Dinwiddy slumped against Jones' side, his mind sending him back to his youth. It was so close, now, that frightening event of so long ago, so close in space but, thankfully, so distant in time. He felt his long-time friend put his arm around his shoulder and allowed him to help him seat himself down on the hard ground.

_"Are you okay, Mr Dinwiddy?"_ Jones then asked him, a silly question, he knew, but it was what one always asked anyway.

_"Aye, Jones the Steam, I'll be all right in a minute I will. You'd better tell them the bad news."_

_"What bad news?"_ asked Thomas, frowning as he looked at the old man.

_"The tunnel leads to a dead-end,"_ said Jones. _"It comes to a stop after fifty feet by a set of buff-"_

_"RIGHT, THAT'S IT!"_ Jeanie suddenly called out, angrily whirling around to face both Thomas and James. _"It's been just one thing after another,"_ she snapped at them, _"and I've now had a gutsful of it! There's no way I'm staying here to rot away in the dark, so you two are like supermen, yeah? So,"_ pointing back towards the waiting trucks, _"go back to the entrance and start digging our way out! I'm going to make a cup of tea for the rest of us while we wait, and give me a shout when you're done, yeah?"_ She then stormed off towards the brake van, the arm holding her lamp held ram-rod straight in front of her.

_"We can't do that,"_ Thomas called after her.

_"And why ever not?"_ asked Jeanie sharply, stopping her angry march and looking back at him over her shoulder.

_"Because we'd end up pulling the rest of the mountain down on top of us,"_ said James.

_"So, we're really stuck here,"_ said Jones, sadness in his voice as he stared at the ground. _"A rock-fall at one end, and a rock wall at the other. It's quite poetic in a sad kind of way, when you think about it."_

_"That it is, Jones, that it is,"_ agreed Mr Dinwiddy, nodding his head. _"At least they had the good sense to put up those buffers before they hit the mountain it was!"_

_"Talking of THEM,"_ said Jeanie rather haughtily as she turned to face the others, _"where did THEY go to, eh? YOU,"_ she then said, pointing at the old man sitting on the ground, _"said that they never brought their wagons out of the tunnel before they boarded it up, and YOU,"_ she continued, pointing at James, _"said that the stone HE'D,"_ pointing back at Mr Dinwiddy, _"stuck in the track donkey's years ago was still there before you pulled them planks off! So, answer me that, then, eh?"_

Jeanie then folded her arms across her chest and stared rather indignantly at the rest of the group. _"There's GOT to be another way out of here,"_ she then said, _"or did they just snap their fingers and make everything disappear like magic?"_ She waved her free hand in the air to emphasise her point, trying several times, and failing, to snap her fingers. She then stared quite crossly at her hand as it refused to do her bidding.

_"Hee-hee!"_ giggled Mr Dinwiddy. _"It's ALL magic, and YOU can't do this..."_

_"And HE'S definitely mad!"_ said Jeanie, nodding her head down towards Mr Dinwiddy as he, quite audibly, snapped his fingers together with a loud click.

_"WHAT was that?"_ asked Thomas, his face looking quite excited.

_"I said,"_ said Jeanie, _"that HE'S definitely mad,"_ nodding her head again to Mr Dinwiddy.

_"No, not that,"_ said Thomas, shaking his head. _"Mr Dinwiddy, you said there's a set of buffers at the end of the tunnel? It can't be as simple as that!"_ he said, looking at James.

_"Yes it is,"_ said Jeanie. _"He's definitely mad. Just look at him cackling away like a lunatic. He's stark raving bonkers, and I don't blame him one little bit. I think I'll go mad as well, no, I think I AM already mad after all I've been through lately, I just haven't started cackling yet. Give it time, though, and I'll be sitting down there with him, giggling and probably drooling away quite happily in a world of my own."_

_"No,"_ said Thomas. _"He said that it's all magic. Mr Jones, I want to see those buffers Mr Dinwiddy just mentioned. James, you come as well. I've just thought of something."_

_"What do you mean, Thomas?"_ asked James, then, a look of realisation spread across his face and he grinned at his friend. _"Oh,"_ he said, _"I hope you're right, Thomas!"_

Jeanie frowned as she watched the three men disappear into the darkness with their lamps, then smiled as she looked at Mr Dinwiddy, and asked, _"Would you like a nice cup of tea, Mr Crazy Old Man?"_

It didn't take long to reach the end of the tunnel and the set of buffers. Thomas stepped up close to the round buffer on the left and placed the palm of his left hand flush up to it. Turning his head to face James, he said, _"Do the same on the other one, and tell me what you feel."_

James copied what Thomas was doing and looked back over to him, now grinning broadly. _"So THAT'S how they got their wagons out without Mr Dinwiddy seeing them! Where do you think it goes to, Thomas?"_

_"I've got no idea,"_ Thomas replied, quietly enjoying the almost-electric tingle flowing up his left arm and into the rest of his body, _"but as you can see, neither of us seem to be able to get through it. Probably because we're not engines any more."_

Looking back to Jones the Steam, he then said, _"Have you or Ivor ever used a set of magic buffers before?"_

_"Never,"_ said Jones. _"I've never heard of anything like that before I met you, and they look just like ordinary buffers to me."_ He then walked over to stand next to James and placed his hand next to the former engine. _"They feel just like ordinary buffers as well."_

_"I feel my insides tingling,"_ said James. _"Do you feel it, too?"_

_"Yes,"_ said Thomas, _"and it's just what it felt like when I went through the ones on Sodor when I went to Muffle Mountain."_

Thomas stepped back from the buffers and thought to himself for a few moments, then said to Jones the Steam, _"I don't know if they'll work for Ivor, so we'll have to shunt Edward out from the middle and put him in front of Toad, and then have Ivor push him into the buffers. That's the only way we'll be able to activate the portal and get wherever they'll take us."_

_"What do you mean 'activate the portal', Thomas?"_ Jones asked him.

_"I don't know where we'll end up, maybe back to Sodor,"_ said Thomas, _"but, wherever they go to, this is our only way out of here, but it's more likely we'll end up wherever those men and their wagons went to all those years ago."_

_"Oh-er,"_ groaned Jones the Steam. _"I wonder if I'll be able to give Dai Station a ring when we get there. He'll be wondering where we are when Ivor and I don't turn up for work tomorrow morning. It's a pity I'm going to miss Rhodryr's party, I was rather looking forward to that!"_

It didn't take long to explain their plan to the others, despite Jeanie interrupting with several sarcastic comments, and soon, after a series of shunts using the two empty lengths of track, the order of wagons was such that Edward, with Toad and the other trucks between him and Ivor, was leading the way towards the set of buffers, after the little green engine gave a mighty push to get them all moving again and get up enough speed to get them all, hopefully, through the magic portal.

_"Here we go!"_ Thomas called out from Edward's footplate as he felt the procession start to move.

_"I hope this works!"_ said James, holding on to a handrail.

_"It had better work,"_ said Jeanie, standing between the two former engines, _"or I'm going to be fucking furious with the pair of you!"_

_"Hee-hee!" _giggled Mr Dinwiddy, bobbing up and down on his toes inside Ivor's cab. _"We're all going to go out with a bang!"_

_"brrP?"_ tooted the little green engine.

_"No we won't, my old friend,"_ said Jones the Steam as he opened Ivor's regulator even more, _"I trust Thomas... I think!"_

_**~Why ME?~**_ wailed Edward, closing his eyes as the distance between his buffers and the stationary ones just ahead rapidly dwindled to mere inches before they came into contact with a mighty clank...

ooo

It was another ten minutes before Olwen emerged from the gap under the slab, closely followed by an excited Gaian and Blodwen. Because the tunnel had been boarded up long before he'd hatched out of his egg, Idris had never had the chance to explore the old tunnel, and now he was here, curious, and rather eager to explore the tunnel with his family and friends, once they caught up to them. From his father's memories, though, he knew of the cavern that lay round the bend further down the tunnel, but he was also keen to see where the tunnel eventually led to, as that was something not even his father had known. _**##Come!##**_ he instructed his family, and they all set off down the tunnel.

Soon, as they entered the bend, Idris could see the faint glow from Ivor's cab lamp lighting up the top of his head, then he heard some shouting, and then Ivor asking if he was going to die, and then, just as the glow from the little engine went out of sight round the furthest part of the bend, there was an almighty clang of metal and then, complete silence. It sounded like they'd crashed into something, a stationary truck that had been left in the abandoned tunnel, maybe, and he and Olwen started to gallop the rest of the way, blowing fiery snorts to light their way as they raced to help their friends.

Rounding the bend, the two dragons entered the cavern expecting to see carnage, but instead of the mass of wreckage they were anticipating, there was nothing there. There was no sign at all of Ivor, the other blue engine, the wagons, and not even Jones, Mr Dinwiddy, the young woman and her two not-men friends were to be seen. The cavern was empty except for the three sets of track and something he'd never seen before with his own eyes but knew quite well, for on the rightmost of the three branch lines and illuminated by the glow from his fiery breath, there was a single wagon, his father's iron cage.

_**##Go!##**_ he told Olwen, gesturing with his head to the tunnel on the left. She would call him if necessary, but there was something he just had to do here first.

Olwen went down the tunnel extension in search of the missing trains, quickly realising that it came to a dead end. She searched, but there were no side-exits to be seen. Puzzled as to where the trains and humans could have gone to, she turned round and made her way back to the cavern and her mate.

Idris stood in front of the lone wagon and put his snout up close to the unyielding metal bars, and sniffed inside the cage, detecting faint traces of fear and rage that he knew, their familiarity not through any experience of his own, but that of his father. For a while, he just stood there, re-living through the memories from his father of his struggle to fight against the oppressing power of the Words used against him by the humans, and trembling with the agonising pain he'd felt when they'd ripped away several of his scales before branding his tender inner flesh with the Mark of Obedience.

Snarling, he stepped back, and roared with rage at what had been done to his father, and took in a deep, deep breath, savouring the volatile mixture he felt building up within him and was about to release... and exhaled a blast of concentrated super-hot flame that enveloped the cage wagon, setting its wooden floor alight and incinerating some small bones and straw that had been left inside. He took another deep breath and let out another flame, and another and another until there was nothing left of the wooden floor but ash that fell onto the metalwork and ground below. More angry hot flames poured onto the glowing iron bars and steelwork of the wagon's wheels until all that remained where the prison cage had stood for nigh on a hundred years was a pool of molten metal spreading out from between the two iron rails, then he heard Olwen approach him from behind and he turned round, and cocked his head at the puzzled look on her face.

He walked towards her as she stepped forward to meet him and rubbed the side her snout hard against his cheekbone. He growled softly, acknowledging her greeting and appreciation of what he'd just done. It was a small but welcome consolation, nevertheless, seeing that he'd disavowed his long-held desire for revenge against the Hatt bloodline. _**##You didn't call for me,##**_ he said to her.

_**##They are not there,##**_ replied Olwen.

_**##What do you mean 'they are not there'?##**_

_**##I mean what I say, Idris, yet I will say it again. They are not there. They have gone somewhere else. I cannot explain it in any other way that would say what I mean.##**_

Now, equally puzzled, Idris went over into the tunnel to look for himself, ignoring the curious Gaian and Blodwen as they, now having caught up with their parents, went over to explore the hot pool of metal they could see on the cavern floor.

At the end of the tunnel, Idris went up to one of the metal buffers and sniffed at it, then said, _**##I can smell Jones the Steam and I can smell the not-man. They have gone somewhere else, Olwen, and I must go, too.##**_

_**##The children?##**_

_**##Take them home with you. I don't know where this magic will take me, but they must be kept safe. You will be safe.##**_

Olwen again rubbed her snout against Idris' cheekbone. _**##Be careful, Idris. You have told me of how they caught your father. It was a trick they played very much like this.##**_

_**##Then I will be ready for them should they try, Olwen. I know the trickery they plan to use.##**_

Idris then rubbed his own snout against both of Olwen's cheekbones in a farewell gesture.

Olwen stepped back a short distance and watched as Idris' scales began to glow hotter and hotter until each individual scale appeared to be shining with a sparkle of its own, and then her mate stepped between the two buffers and disappear into the rock wall behind them.

ooOOoo


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

The three occupants of Edward's cab held tightly to each other, disorientated as their procession rapidly twisted and spun through the darkness to who-knew-where, the light from their lamps not even reflecting off anything that would give them a clue as to where they were right then. The almost-silent rushing of air was all they could hear, not one of them feeling able enough to speak due to the nausea and dizziness they were all feeling, unable to say anything, even to ask whether or not they were actually moving forward even, simply because it just didn't feel like they were making any progress, only the never-ending twisting and turning in the surrounding blackness.

It was the same further back in Ivor's cab. Jones the Steam was gripping Mr Dinwiddy with one hand, and the handrail at the side of the cab with the other, holding on to both for dear life, both the welshmen undergoing the most bizarre experience they'd ever had. To be fair to the two welshmen, it was the very first time they'd travelled through a magical railway portal, and Jones the Steam quickly amended his thought of the first few seconds of this terror-filled ride as being anything at all like the time he'd dared to have a go on the waltzers when a travelling fair had stopped at Llanmad some years back. He and a couple of mates had been drinking one evening in the Ddraig Goch and, foolishly, they'd decided to spend some time on the rides. The sick feeling he was experiencing right now, though, was enough for him to consider not touching a drop of beer ever again, that's how bad he was feeling right now. Mr Dinwiddy was simply staring wide-eyed into space, as silent as a dead church mouse.

Round and round they all spun, their numbed shock not even giving them the chance to question why they weren't all being thrown out from the cabs, then, suddenly, everything went still, everything outside of the two engine cabs remained pitch black, and every one of them staggered about as their bodies fought against their collective perceived sense of motion. Gradually, their ears began to detect Ivor's gentle huffing, but not his regular "pshhhhtehkooff-ing", and, in Edward's cab, James asked, _"Have we stopped, do you think?"_

Thomas shook his head quickly to regain his equilibrium and said, _"I don-"_, but was interrupted by the sound of Jeanie retching onto the footplate behind him.

_"Ooh... s-s-sorry 'bou' tha'... ooh..."_ then, _"what in hell's name was all THAT?"_ she gasped, hunched over with her hands on her knees.

_"I... I don't know,"_ said Thomas, peering into the blackness outside the cab. _"It FEELS like we've stopped, but I don't think we're outside in the open air; though. I can't feel any breeze or hear any traffic at all."_

James leant out of the cab and looked downwards. _"I can't even see the ground!" he exclaimed, worried. "Are we ANYWHERE?"_

_"We've got to be SOMEWHERE,"_ Jeanie snapped at him, then added, after pausing to spit out something rather vile-tasting she'd found with the tip of her tongue in the back of her mouth, _"as long as we're not still stuck in the middle of that fuckin' mountain!"_

Thomas bent down and picked up a loose lump of coal lying on the footplate and, leaning over James' shoulder, dropped it outside the cab. The quiet "thud" they heard confirmed that they were, indeed, "somewhere", but it was the "where" that was the important question.

Reaching into the cab for a lantern, Thomas then stepped backwards down from the cab, gingerly lowering his foot until he felt it being stopped by something hard, then, feeling backwards with the tip of his boot as far as he could until he was sure that there was something solid under him, he then lowered his other foot, confident that he could stand on it. He then turned round and raised his lamp, and saw, just three feet away, a brick wall.

_"Is that ANOTHER tunnel wall?"_ asked James.

_"Either that or the wall of a building or something,"_ Thomas replied. He stepped forward and ran his hand against the brickwork. _"I don't know,"_ he then added.

_"Go back, please, Thomas,"_ said Jeanie, then, _"and see if Mr Jones and the crazy are okay. They're probably feeling as sick as I was."_

_"Yes,"_ said Thomas, _"I'll do that,"_ and, holding his lamp lower so that he could see where he was putting his feet, made his way between the trucks and the brick wall along to Ivor. From what he could see as he walked, the floor looked like concrete, dust-covered, mind you, but definitely not flat rock. _Maybe we're in an industrial estate,_ he thought.

_"Mr Jones, Mr Dinwiddy?"_ he called out once he was alongside the little green engine.

_"Thomas?"_ answered Jones the Steam. _"Do-do you go through things like that a lot?"_ he asked, reaching out a hand to help Thomas up into the small cab.

_"I've only been in the one between Sodor and Muffle Mountain, Mr Jones,"_ replied Thomas, _"and it NEVER felt like THAT. I didn't know WHAT was going on. Are you all right, Mr Dinwiddy?"_

_"I've fallen down mountain paths many a time in my life I have,"_ said the old man, _"but THAT was the tumble of a lifetime it was! Hee-hee! I nearly lost my false teeth!"_

_"Whenever I went to or came back from visiting Lady,"_ said Thomas, then, _"there was always a blurred view of the countryside or the ocean speeding past as I travelled, but I don't know why it stayed pitch black with THIS portal."_

_"If that's what is supposed to happen, Thomas,"_ said Jones the Steam, _"then, seeing as it stayed black all the time we were, er, moving, maybe we just travelled further inside the mountain and we're now in the one by Pugh's Pit. What do you think?"_

_"We could be,"_ said Thomas. _"That would explain why we didn't see any of the outside scenery. All we've got to do now is hope that we're not locked in seeing as the miners are all going to that party, or we'll be stuck in here until Mr Pugh and his men turn up for work tomorrow morning!"_

_"Hee-hee!"_ chortled Mr Dinwiddy again. _"They'll have the fright of their lives they will!"_

_"There's no doubt about that, Mr Dinwiddy,"_ said Jones the Steam. _"Thomas, I hope you've got enough food in your brake van for two extra mouths?"_

_"There should be,"_ said Thomas. _"Do you want to help me look around to see where we are, Mr Jones?"_

_"Yes, we both will, won't we. Mr Dinwiddy?"_

_"Aye, Jones the Steam, We'll do that we will!"_

_"First of all, though,"_ said Thomas, glancing back over the top of Ivor's coal bunker, _"I want to check behind us to see what's there,"_ and climbed back down to the ground.

Jones the Steam and Mr Dinwiddy climbed down after him, both of them holding a lamp each, and followed Thomas. They didn't have to walk far, for as soon as Thomas had started walking, he stopped, and let out an awed, _"Ooh!"_

Jones and Mr Dinwiddy went to stand on either side of him and saw a set of buffers. They looked rather old-fashioned and quite basic compared to the more sturdy sets they were used to seeing; even the old set in Ivor's shed looked modern compared to these ones.

Thomas placed his hand flush onto one of the buffers and smiled. Yes, the electric-like tingle was there as well!

Taking his hand away, he looked to both Jones and Mr Dinwiddy, and said, _"They appear to work both ways."_

_"Well,"_ said Jones, _"I'd NEVER have thought that old Pugh would have had something like this in his store shed!"_

_"Come on,"_ said Thomas, then, _"or they'll be thinking there's something wrong down here."_

The threesome then made their way to the front of the procession to start exploring.

ooo

The two massive and locked wooden doors just a few yards in front of Edward was all that was stopping them from going any further. They'd quickly found out that is _was_ a tunnel they were in, a straight length of tunnel just about long enough to accommodate their engines and trucks, and without any sign of fork lifts or mining equipment. The group had then gathered inside Toad and, as they sipped at their cups of tea, courtesy of Jeanie, deliberated over what to do.

James had agreed with Jones the Steam and Thomas that they were probably on the other side of the mountain, and Jeanie had suggested they get Ivor to push Edward through the doors to force them open, but Jones had then said that Mr Pugh's fork lifts might be parked up against the doors and unlikely to be moved until they were needed, and he didn't want to upset the owner of the coal mine by damaging his machines. Thomas had then suggested that they wait until morning and listen out for any noises coming from the other side of the doors, and then, rather than fire up Edward and get his parts too hot to be worked on, get Ivor to loudly call for help with his brass pipes. The miners were bound to hear him, he'd said, and they'd move any equipment out of the way and open the doors to see what was making all the noise. The others had thought that idea to be the best of their options, and so Jeanie had brought out a well-used deck of cards she'd found in one of the small cupboards inside the brake van a few days ago when they were travelling to Cardiff. It was as she was trying, without much success, to explain the rules of three-card-brag to Thomas and James, when they all heard the most unexpected of voices. _**# Mr Dinwiddy? Mr Jones? Are you there?# **_

_"IDRIS?"_ exclaimed Jones the Steam, getting up and going out onto the brake van's veranda. He'd forgotten to take a lantern with him but that didn't stop him from going from one side to the other and looking back down along the line of wagons and, in the darkness of the tunnel, just to the side of and behind Ivor, he could make out a reddish glow. _"However did YOU get here?"_ he shouted, not knowing how well the dragon would hear him.

_**# I got here the same way you did, Mr Jones. Where are we?# **_

_"We're at Pugh's Pit, we think. In the tunnel entrance he uses as a store shed, but the wrong side of some locked doors."_

There was a momentary pause and then Jones heard Idris say, _**# No you're not, Mr Jones. This is a different mountain. I don't know where it is, but it's not the one we were in before we left.# **_

_"We're lost we are!"_ giggled Mr Dinwiddy, having come out onto the veranda with both Thomas and James. The old man then started singing, _"We're lost in-side a moun-t'in and we do-n't know where we are-are we don't!"_

_"Aw fuck, not again!"_ they heard Jeanie called out from inside Toad.

Thomas, James and Jones the Steam turned their heads quickly to look back as they heard the brake van's door suddenly slam shut. _"Keep that fucking dragon away from me!"_ her muffled voice then called out. _"I'm NOT going through all that shit again, you hear me?"_ closely followed by, _"Fuck, he's fucking followed me through a fucking mountains he has! Fuck, now I'm even beginning to TALK like that old crazy!"_

Inside the brake van, Jeanie had just plonked herself back down onto her bunk and curled herself up into a ball, tightly hugging her knees to her chest when she heard, as clear as though she was thinking it herself, _**# I can help you, young female. I can show you what to do so that you will not be hurt when I am near you.# **_

_"SHIT! NOW HE'S INSIDE MY HEAD!"_ she cried out, turning onto her back and reaching up with her hands to clutch at her hair, her grip so tight she was almost pulling clumps of it out from her scalp. _"FUCK OFF!"_

_**# Female, I will show you a bind rune to make. Mark the shapes one on top of the other in the order I show you them. Put a drop of your blood onto them and keep it next to your skin. You will be safe when I come near you.# **_

_"No fucking way, dragon!"_ said Jeanie out loud. _"I don't know if you can hear me, but there's NO FUCKING WAY I'm doing anything like THAT! I bet that's your plan for me to be some sort of sacrifice like some virgin on an alter or something and then you eat me alive! Listen to THIS and listen good... NO... FUCKING... WAY! Got it, pal?"_

_**# Female, talk with your not-men friends. They bear similar marks but with different powers, marks that allowed them to be what they were before what they are now. Listen to them, female, for I want to help you as much as you want to help their magical engine friend.# **_

Jeanie then heard the veranda door opening and Thomas' voice say softly, _"He's right, Jeanie. I don't know what the marks James and I have on our chests do, but I have found out from Mr Dinwiddy that they're there for us both to be engines that can think and talk. He told us how he saw similar marks on Ivor when he was a young boy. I don't know why Idris wants you to put blood on those shapes he wants you to make, but if it can help you, I think you should do it."_

_"You TRUST him?"_ she asked Thomas angrily. _"You've only met him today. How do you know it's not some kind of fucking trick for him to eat me?"_

_"Because both Mr Jones AND Mr Dinwiddy have known him for many years, and I trust them. I'm pretty sure if there was a trick or anything, they'd know and would say so."_

_"Where is he?"_ asked Jeanie. _"Where's that dragon right now? Is he outside waiting for me to come out?"_

_"No. He's all the way back behind Ivor."_

_"If, and I mean IF I let him show me those marks or whatever they are, will you and James guard me from him? I trust you, Thomas, and I trust James... I think I trust Mr Jones, but I certainly don't trust that old crazy. If I say yes to this, Thomas, I want you to know that I'm trusting you with my life. If that fucking dragon ends up eating me, I'll fucking haunt you and James, and Mr Jones for the rest of your fucking lives, whether you end up back as trains or not, you got that?"_

Thomas smiled gently, and said, _"I think so, Jeanie. I will stand here so that no harm will come to you, and James will be right outside doing the same."_

_"Thank you,"_ said Jeanie, feeling herself blush with the depth of emotion that welled up inside her at the former engine's display of loyalty to her.

_"I'm... I'm sorry for swearing so much, Thomas,"_ she then said quite sheepishly. _"I... I don't normally use language like that, but I started to get so m-m-mixed up in my head when that d-dragon came near me earlier. It's like something takes over my brain and I'm n-n-not me any more. I don't know if that make any s-s-sense to you, Thomas, but I've been thinking about it,"_ Jeanie paused then to wipe at a tear that was running down her cheek.

_"It-it's been like this ever s-s-since I agreed to this job, and since then, I go through spells when, first, I'm okay and I b-b-believe all this railway magic stuff, and then I go through a spell when I d-d-doubt it, and I think it's all a load of bullshit. There... there's even times when I'm thinking the two s-s-sets of thoughts at the s-s-same time and I don't even know which thoughts are m-m-my own. I haven't seen any of the other railway s-s-staff reacting like this and I don't know if I can t-t-take much more of it, and I'm starting to c-c-cry now. Please leave me alone for f-f-five minutes, Thomas, and I'll c-c-call you when I've decided what to do..."_

Not quite sure how to deal with a crying woman, Thomas decided that the best thing he could do was as she'd asked, and wait outside for five minutes. Looking at the sniffling young woman, he felt sad, and quietly went back out onto the veranda. _"She's a bit upset,"_ he then said to James and Jones the Steam. _"She said she'll be all right in five minutes, though."_

Now curled up on her bunk again, Jeanie brooded on her problem. She knew that something had to be done soon to help her or she'd probably end up doing something really stupid, and that would destroy her family. Sniffing back her runny nose, she pondered over what the dragon had said he could do to help her, and she really needed help, she knew, but she also didn't want to die or be eaten. She'd thought she was going to die the first time she saw Olwen, and even more so when Idris had dived down at her from out of the sky.

She thought over what Thomas had said to her about trust, but could she trust the word of a dragon? After all, she'd have to trust someone eventually. No one else had offered any help to her, but could she do that, though? Could she, no, would she put her trust in an animal, no, a creature she'd always believed had never existed except in legends and fantasy films. She recalled an expression about something to do with good intentions ending up in hell, and she was certainly going through hell, she told herself. Maybe it was time to help herself, to maybe at least hear what the dragon had to offer and see what happened then. Maybe it'll work, after all, if it didn't, she was already half-way convinced she was going crazy like the old man, and he didn't seem to be suffering all that badly for it, especially with all that giggling he did. _Fuck it, I'll do it!_

After rinsing her face in the small wash basin, Jeanie searched amongst the paperwork Sir Topham had given her before they'd set off on their trip, and found a sheet with about three-quarters of it free of any writing. She tore off the typed couple of paragraphs and, ready with a stubby pencil, sat at the small fold-down desk. _"I'm ready, Thomas,"_ she called out, too embarrassed after her latest upset to show her face to the other men out on the veranda.

Thomas opened the door and stepped inside, leaving it ajar so that he'd be able to hear if anything untoward were to happen outside.

_"All right, dragon,"_ Jeanie then said, hoping he could hear her, _"show me those shape things of yours, but first, I'm giving you a warning. If you eat me, I'll find a way to haunt you and your family for the rest of your dragon lives, understand?"_

_**# It will not come to that, young female. I have good friends in Mr Jones and Mr Dinwiddy, and that friendship will be destroyed if I hurt you in the way you fear, and I do not wish that to happen, for that is what will happen if what you fear were to pass. Now, I will show you the marks you must make and how to mark them correctly. Take great care when you do this, young female, for there will be serious consequences should you make a mistake.# **_

_"So, no pressure, then, uh? Okay,"_ said Jeanie, holding the pencil a couple of inches above the paper, _"I'm ready... "_

The first image that Jeanie saw in her mind was a straight vertical line about seven inches long, then, the shapes and marks that followed were simple geometric shapes she remembered from primary school, but the marks were altogether different, taking forms that she thought were either like something from a foreign language or something that the astrologists in the daily newspapers would use in their horoscopes, then they began to increase in complexity. Fortunately, the way the dragon presented them made it seem less complicated than she thought it would be. Some of the shapes looked like nothing more complicated than a deformed twig, or stickman. Some of the images, when the dragon showed them to her and where to place them, were to be marked a short distance away from the initial line, but it wasn't until after she'd been shown several more marks that she realised how they all then connected together. She found herself becoming fascinated in what she was doing, and her fears of being killed and eaten soon forgotten. She even had to ask the dragon to wait whilst she struggled to re-sharpen the pencil with a blunt cutlery knife, until finally, the bind rune was complete.

Looking down at her handiwork, she was quite startled when she realised that, no matter how hard she tried, even going as far as standing up and turning her body away, she couldn't take her eyes off the bind rune. _SHIT_, she thought, _it's like that guy who did that picture with the never-ending stairs drew some kind of super-powerful magnet. I'm fucking STUCK to it!_ and then her fears of it all being a trick resurfaced. Just as her heart started racing in panic, she heard, _**# Fear not, young female, for it is simply proof of your accuracy. It is good. Now your blood must fall within the circle within another. That will seal the bind rune to protect you, and it is the bind rune itself that must be next to your skin, as near to your heart as possible.# **_

Hearing that, Jeanie knew then that she had a problem. _"I've got a safety-pin in my make-up bag and I can't get it 'cos I can't look away from it,"_ she said. _"I'm fucking stuck!"_

_**# Get it!# **_

_Shit! He sounds cross with me!_

Jeanie then sidled over to the bunk, her head still facing the bind rune on the small desk, and bent at the knees, reaching with her arm to her bag and picked it up. The next couple of minutes were spent trying to feel with her fingers for her make-up pouch, un-zip it and rummage around amongst various tubes and creams and whatnot to find the small pin, all the while being unable to look at what she was doing. _God, I'm not going to fucking do THIS again as long as I live! _

Finally, safety pin in hand and opened, she tried to stab herself. It took her a few attempts as she found herself unable to use enough force for the sharp point of the pin to actually pierce her fingertip, as though her body really didn't want her to hurt herself. _Fuck this, _she thought, and stabbed the pin quickly into the fleshy part of the back of her hand at the base of her index finger and thumb. Seeing the blood emerge and form into a little ball on her skin, she said, _"Done it! Blood. How much do I need?"_

_**# Just one drop will be enough if it is placed correctly. Take care how you do it.# **_

Positioning the blood on her hand over the concentric circles, she slowly twisted her wrist until the blood, now a little river, dripped once onto the bind rune she'd drawn, then, _Fuck! Am I seeing things? _

Barely a second after her blood had touched the paper, when the bind rune she'd drawn jumped up at her, or so she thought, when she leant back in fright, she realised that she was now able to look away from it, and when she looked back at it again, what a sight it was!

Whether or not it was an optical illusion, she didn't know, but she thought the thing she'd drawn was like one of those three-dimensional images that appeared in those weird-patterned pictures that were the craze a few years back, but in this case, it wasn't something simple like a dolphin or a flower that she could see, but more a solid, mesh-like diamond that changed its shape whenever she looked at it from a different angle.

_**# No, it is a Lattice of Well-being.# **_

_"It-it's fucking beautiful!"_ she exclaimed.

_**# The nearer it is to your heart, the more protection it will provide you.# **_

_"What, you mean, I've got to put that sheet of paper under my BRA?"_

_**# If that is what you must do, then you must do that. When it is done, the Lattice will be drawn inside you and surround your heart. It will guard your blood and shield your half-magic from my presence.# **_

_"And this will work, yeah?"_

_**# It will work. **_

Looking over to Thomas as he stood by the door, not seeing what Jeanie could and wondering what she was talking about, she said, _"You'll have to step outside for a few minutes, Thomas, 'cos a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do!"_

ooo

Within moments of getting her bra back in place, and the feeling of awkwardness she had with it not sitting as snug as it ought to, thinking, _Good job I'm not a "big" girl,_ she felt a sudden sense of coldness inside her chest, then an odd "shimmer" that seemed to spread itself up to her shoulders and down both her arms, at the same time up her neck and inside her head, down through her abdomen and down her legs all the way to her feet, then all over at the same time again. She thought that she was going to faint, but then the feeling seemed to fade away, leaving just a slight tingle over her skin, rather similar to pins and needles, and she shook her head as she brushed her hands over herself. _Well, I'm still alive and not waking up to find myself about to be eaten by a dragon, yet._ A "knock-knock" on the door halted her line of thinking as she heard Thomas ask, _"Are you ready to come out, Jeanie? Idris is here to meet you."_ _Fuck_, she thought. _This is it!_

She pulled her top back over her head and checked that there was nothing noticeable to be seen and, after pushing the door open, stepped out onto the veranda, realising that the pins and needles feeling had now left.

She saw the quartet of men standing in front of her, three of them with an anxious look on their faces. The old man was grinning and bouncing slightly on his feet. _"What?"_ she asked them. _"Where is he?"_

She then noticed Thomas glance to his left and down to the side of the brake van. Swallowing nervously, she went over to the edge of the veranda and saw, a couple of feet back down the tunnel, looking up at her with his head cocked to one side, was Idris, his body glowing a pale red and his coal-black eyes almost sparkling as he stared at her.

After swallowing nervously again, she licked her lips as she opened her mouth, searching her mind for something caustic to say as she waited for her inevitable doom, but nothing happened. _"Um... "_ she started, _"er... hello?"_

_**# Hello, Jeanie,# **_

Several seconds passed by with neither of the two speaking, until Idris asked, _**# You are well?# **_

_"Er... I think so. I... um... I'm not feeling bad like before when you... er... were this close to me."_

Idris then opened his jaws slightly and let out a rasping, almost choke-like groan and, alarmed, Jeanie stepped back into the chest of Jones the Steam, almost sending him sprawling as he grabbed onto her to stop himself from falling over.

_"LET ME GO!"_ she screamed, struggling against Jones' hold on her and fearing that, yes, it had all been a cruel trick just to get her out from where she was safe.

_"It's all right, cariad fach,"_ she heard the welshman, as he regained his footing, say into her ear. _"It's only his way of chuckling. He's happy that you're not hurting now."_

_"That's right, young missie,"_ she then heard the old crazy say to her.

_"THOMAS!"_ she shouted, sending him a pleading look as she continued to struggle, pulling at Jones' arms to try and get them off of her.

Thomas looked questioningly down at Idris who had, by now, come a couple of feet closer. The former engine could feel warm air rising up from the creature, then, as a most unusual series of chimes entered his mind, he felt a sense of reassurement from the dragon and, nodding his head in acknowledgement, he turned back to face the scared young woman. _"It's true,"_ he said to her. _"Jeanie, he is no threat to you, in fact, he's quite pleased that it worked so well for you."_

_"You mean that?"_ she asked him, pausing in her struggle to get free.

_"Yes, I felt the truth of it inside me, Jeanie."_

She then heard the dragon make the same rasping gurgle again and saw the heads of the three men she could still see turn quickly to look at the dragon. There was a pause and then she heard them all laughing, including Jones the Steam as he held tightly onto her.

_"What? What are you all laughing at?"_ she demanded.

_"Idris thought,"_ said the short welshman behind her, his arms releasing his hold around her waist, _"that he should do something to get rid of all this tension, and so he made a joke."_

_"What... what did he say?"_ Jeanie asked him, her eyes flicking back and forth between Thomas and James who were still chuckling.

_"He said,"_ said Jones the Steam,, _"that he couldn't eat you anyway as he not long had a big meal before getting here!"_ and started laughing again.

ooo

Standing in the space between Edward and the large wooden doors, Jones the Steam, looking back over his shoulder to where the dragon was waiting in the space between the blue engine and the brick wall, said, _"What do you think, Idris?"_

_**# I am thinking I can burn a hole in the door for you to look through,# **_

_"Won't that be a bit dangerous?"_ Jeanie asked, feeling that she ought to try and accept the dragon's presence amongst them, after all, he had helped her when no one else had been able to, and, for that, she should at least act a bit grateful. _"What if the doors catch alight and fall down on top of us?"_

_**# I can make a small hole if that is what you prefer.# **_

The group discussed the likelihood of any possible consequences of Idris' offer and, without really knowing where they were or what could be on the other side of the doors, collectively decided that they had no other option but to say yes.

_**# It will become very hot by here,# **_ Idris said as he worked his way forward. The space he was in was bigger than that under the fallen slab and, as long as he kept his wings pulled in tightly, his scales only lightly brushed against the wall when he wasn't in the gaps between the wagons. _**# I ask you to stand some distance away while I do this.# **_

The two welshmen, two former engines and one young woman all went back down along the tunnel in the walk-space on the other side of Edward until they were standing between the brake van and drop-sider.

_"IS THIS FAR BACK ENOUGH?"_ Jones the steam then called out.

_**# Yes. Wait.# **_

Idris then went forward to stand in front of the large doors and inhaled deeply. Constricting his throat somewhat, he then exhaled a narrow jet of tightly condensed super-hot flame at the door. The sheer brightness of the flame, an incandescent white line of fire stretched from his open jaws to the door, practically vaporising the wood so quickly that the heat didn't even have a chance to spread before the eye-burning white line moved on to complete a circle as the dragon moved his head around. When the line reached its starting point, Idris cut off his breath, extinguishing the flame as the highly-combustive vapour he'd released was starved of the oxygen it needed to burn. He extended his neck and, with the tip of his snout, pushed the circle of wood through to the other side of the door, hearing it fall to the ground. _**# It is done,# **_ he then told his friends, back-stepping to give them enough room to approach the doors.

The bright light that Thomas and James had both seen from where they waited had reminded them of what they'd seen whenever they'd had cause to go to the scrap works and repair shed back on Sodor. It was just like the light the fitters and cutters made when they were welding steel plates together or cutting through them for scrap, but with a white glow this time instead of blue and white. As a group, they then made their way back to the open space to see what Idris had done. There was a round hole in the door, about four feet up from the ground and large enough for one of them to lean through.

Jones the Steam stepped up the burnt-out hole and, gingerly putting his hand near the still-smoking edge, quickly touched it, drawing his hand back quickly when he felt how warm it was; not enough to burn his skin but still uncomfortable enough not to leave it there, rather much like a hot radiator, he thought. He looked back to the dragon and said, _"Thank you, Idris."_

Carefully, he then put the hand holding his lamp through the hole into the darkness beyond and leant forward to have a look-see, reckoning that the wood, whilst still quite hot for him, wouldn't burn his coat, after all, his wife regularly used the piping-hot radiators back home to dry his rain-soaked clothes after he'd been working all day, and the thought of his wife whilst he was stuck in some unknown tunnel God-know-where brought on a feeling of homesickness.

Then, pulling himself back out of the hole, he said, _"There's quite a fair bit of room in there, and I can see some machinery and workbenches. These tracks carry on some distance but I couldn't see how far they went. I didn't see any fork lifts, either."_

_"Could you hear anything?"_ Thomas asked him.

_"No, it was as quiet as an empty chapel."_

_"Was there anything stopping us forcing the doors open?"_ asked Jeanie.

_"No,"_ said Jones, then, looking as though he'd thought of something, he said, _"Hang on a minute,"_ and returned to look through the hole again. He then came back and said, _"I couldn't see anything high up, but there's a bolt on each door bottom going into the ground to secure them," _then, looking at Idris, he asked,_ "Could you burn the doors again, in a semi-circle by here,"_ as he bent over, drawing a curve with his finger around where the bolts on the other side were located, _"and here."_

_**# I can. Step away.# **_

Idris then walked forward as the others retreated back to safety behind Toad. The five travellers then heard creaking as the doors were being pushed open by the dragon, and they made their way forward to find out where they all were.

The light from five lanterns was more than enough for them to see what had lain beyond the wooden doors.

_"It reminds me of the repair sheds at Crovan's Gate,"_ said James as he pointed at a coupling hook on the ground at the side of a workbench.

_"Yes,"_ agreed Thomas, _"and there's a stack of wagon wheels over by there!"_

_"Bit of a stink in here,"_ said Jeanie, wafting a hand in front of her face. _"What's that horrid smell?"_

_"Sulphur,"_ said Jones, walking slightly ahead to another workbench and swiping his fingers across the top of it.

Raising his hand up to his nose and sniffing, he then said, _"It's soot!"_ then, holding his lamp up a bit higher, he added, _"It's all over the place. It looks like there's been a coal fire burning in here for quite a while!"_

_**# It smells bad,# **_ said Idris from behind them. _**# It was not a good fire. It was not good at all, Mr Jones.# **_

_"Thomas!"_ James' excited voice suddenly called out. _"Look!"_

Thomas peered over to where his friend was pointing, and gasped, _"It's Lady!"_ he cried.

ooOOoo

Cariad fach – used as a term of endearment as in the sense of "dear little child".


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

As Thomas started running, shadows cast by the lamp he was holding in front of him bounced and flickered eerily along the walls of the cave. _"LADY! WE'RE HERE!"_ he cried out. _"We've come to save you!",_ but there was no reply from the engine.

He then practically leapt into the engine's small cab and, after resting his lamp on a metal ledge above her firebox, started touching her regulator and reverser levers, almost caressing them, even, hoping to feel some sort of sign from her that she knew he was there, but there was nothing. What he expected to feel or happen, he didn't know, but continued to move his hands from reverser to regulator to brake winder and back again, pushing or pulling them slightly back and forth and even opening and closing her valve taps just to get some sort of reaction from the engine. _"Lady, it's me, Thomas!"_ he said, his voice sounding desperate, but again, there was still no response.

_"I think we'll need to fire her up first,"_ he heard James say, then, as his friend joined him in the cab and gently placed a hand on his shoulder.

_"Yes, yes, of course. You're right, James,"_ said Thomas sounding defeated, then his face lit up as he started speaking again, _"but with Mr Jones to help us, we'll get her fired up in no time and she'll be back with us again!"_ Then, turning his head to look back over the top of the engine's coal bunker in search of the welshman, he called out, _"You will help us, won't you, Mr Jones?"_

_"Of course I will, Thomas,"_ Jones the Steam replied, but his voice had come from the front end of the engine, causing Thomas to look about in confusion.

Unnoticed by the former engine, the welshman had walked past him, casting a professional eye on the small locomotive's running gear, marvelling to himself on how well preserved the ancient engine appeared to be, save for the fine coating of black dust over her bodywork that made her brown and grey paintwork look like bare metal. _Funny,_ he mused to himself, _I'm sure they said she was purple and gold. Ah well._ _"She doesn't look to be damaged in any way,"_ Jones continued, this time, standing alongside the cab and behind James, making Thomas jump in surprise, _"but we'll have to check her more closely before we do anything. I'll check her tanks for water, first, if you've got no objection,"_ he then offered.

_"No, please, carry on, Mr Jones,"_ replied James. _"I think we'll need all the help you can give us."_

Jeanie walked over to stand behind James and stared in open-mouthed wonder at the little engine, but there was something a bit odd-looking about her, but she couldn't quite figure it out.

_"Uh... guys?"_ she called out. _"We're... er, in Shining Time, right, and in Lady's cave, yeah?"_

_"Yes,"_ said Thomas from inside Lady's cab, looking crestfallen that his magical friend had failed to acknowledge him.

_"Actually,"_ said James, turning his head to look at Jeanie, _"we're standing inside Muffle Mountain, which is where Lady's cave is. It's amazing, isn't it?"_

_"Er, yeah,"_ Jeanie muttered quietly to herself, then, a bit louder, said, _"That means we're in, like, America, yeah?"_

_"That's right,"_ said James, nodding.

_"Fuck!"_ she spat out. _"So how the hell do we get back to Sodor when the portal we came here through leads back to a blocked tunnel thousands of miles away?"_

_"Oh,"_ said James, frowning. _"I don't know."_

_"Maybe Lady will know a way back,"_ Thomas suggested, _"when we bring her back to life!"_

_"IF we manage to bring her back to life,"_ said Jeanie caustically.

_"I hope we find a telephone somewhere,"_ said Jones the Steam, peering into the engine's small tank on Jeanie side of the engine. _"My wife will be wondering where I am when I don't turn up for supper."_

_"Dai Station will have a fit he will, hee-hee!"_ giggled Mr Dinwiddy, _"when you ask him for overtime and travelling expenses oh yes he will!"_ Then, in a mocking-gruff voice, the old man said, _"'It's against Company Regulation to go gallivanting off to America he'll be saying when you tell where you are, Jones the steam he will!"_

_"Aye, I can just see him saying it, too, Mr Dinwiddy,"_ Jones replied, shaking his head in anticipation of the bollocking he was likely get from the officious stationmaster if and when he returned to Llaniog, _"that he will indeed!"_ After closing the lid to the water tank and carefully climbing back down to the ground, he said to James, _"This one's empty it is. I'll go and look in the other one."_

While Jones went round to the other side of the engine, Jeanie leant into the cab and said, _"Guys, if we want to save Lady, we've got to do it properly, so, when Mr Jones has checked that other tank and come back, we'll all discuss exactly what's got to be done so that we do it right, yeah? I haven't got a clue how you start one of these things,"_ gesturing vaguely with her lamp-free hand to the cluster of what she still thought of, despite her ride with Thomas in Edward's cab the other day when he had identified them to her, as strange–looking levers and knobs, _"so the three of you will have to explain to me what you've got to do, right?"_

_"Yes, of course,"_ said James, speaking for both himself and Thomas when he noticed that his friend still appeared to be in a world of his own.

_"Is that okay with you, Mr Jones?"_ Jeanie asked the welshman as he appeared on the other side of the cab.

_"Yes, it's fine with me, Miss Watkins,"_ he said, stepping up to stand next to Thomas. _"I'd be most disappointed if you didn't ask me to help, I would. By the way, she's dry as a bone in both tanks, James."_

_"I hope we brought enough of that healing water with us,"_ said Jeanie, sounding doubtful, then, looking up at Thomas to catch his attention, she said, _"Sir Topham told me you were..., sorry, are a tank engine, so how much do you need in YOUR tanks, Thomas?"_

_"My tanks hold fifteen hundred gallons, they do, bu-"_

_"FUCK, we haven't got THAT much!"_ Jeanie then shrieked in a panic. _"We only bought four hundred and fifty! Oh fuck me pink!"_

_"JEANIE!"_ Jones the Steam said rather loudly to the distressed young woman. _"You've got MORE than enough for this little engine you have! She won't need all of it."_

_"Really?"_ Jeanie asked him hopefully, before turning back to stare at Thomas while she waited for him to confirm what Jones the Steam had just said.

But it was from James that the confirmation came from. _"Yes, really,"_ he said to her, smiling, _"and we'll have plenty left over once we get her going again!"_

_"Oh, thank fuck for that!"_ she breathed, letting out a sigh of relief that they hadn't already screwed up their hopes of saving Lady, then she remembered Lawrence Harrington laughing at the idea of asking the people who ran the shop in Glastonbury for two hundred gallons of the stuff.

Hoping that the others couldn't see her face redden with embarrassment at making a fool of herself, she mumbled, _"So-sorry, guys, I wasn't thinking straight, which just goes to show how much I don't know about these things... I'm just a girl. Anyway,"_ she continued, with a bit more enthusiasm, _"so we've got to get the water from the barrels into her tanks, yeah? How do we do that when they're all the way back in the other tunnel?"_

_"Well,"_ said Jones, _"that's easy. I'll get Ivor to push the wagons into this cave and maybe Thomas and James can carry them here and lift them up on top of her tanks and pour it in. Is that okay with you, Thomas? James?"_

_"Yes, we can do that,"_ said James, _"but we might spill some of it by doing it that way. Maybe there's a bit of hosepipe or something here we can use to siphon it in instead."_

_"We'll need buckets to carry the coal across,"_ said Thomas, joining in with their discussion as he looked back to where the coal truck would most likely be once Mr Jones' engine pushed them in. _"While we check her over, Jeanie,"_ said James, _"maybe you and Mr Dinwiddy can look around the cave and see what you can find? I don't know if there'd be four buckets in here, though."_

_"Yeah, okay,"_ agreed Jeanie, feeling a bit happier now that she could be of some use. _"We can do that, can't we, Mr Din-... where's HE gone to now?"_ she asked, after turning round and raising her lamp up to look where she thought the old man was standing, and not seeing him anywhere.

_"I'm over here I am,"_ his voice called back from the other side of the small locomotive. _"It's been over eighty years since I last saw this pretty engine it has, and I was just... thinking... rekindling old memories I was,"_ he said sadly, his voice getting quieter as he spoke.

_"Have a look round for some buckets, will you, Mr Dinwiddy?"_ Jones the Steam called over to him, not wanting his old friend to linger too long in the past.

_"Right-ho, Mr Jones"_ Mr Dinwiddy replied, _"I'll do that I will. Where's the light switch?"_

_"Oh!"_ gasped Thomas just then, as he realised something. _"I'd better open the entrance doors. I forgot all about them when I saw Lady standing here. We'll need more light in here, anyway, for when we start work on Lady."_

The former tank engine stepped down from the cab and made his way to the front of the cave, placing his lamp down on the ground once he reached the doors. Almost bent over double, he felt along the bottom of the huge wooden doors until he found the locking bolts that were keeping them securely closed, and retracted them from their holes in the ground before straightening back up again and pushing one of the doors wide open. After being confined for so long in the old tunnel back in North Wales and then in the tunnel and cave where they were now, the bright mid-morning sunlight that suddenly burst into the cave almost blinded him, and he had to shield his eyes with a raised arm until they became accustomed to it and he could see to open the other door.

_"Hooray, daylight!"_ Jeanie cheered, putting her lamp down onto a nearby workbench. _"I thought I'd never see it ever again!"_

Thomas looked outside and let out a loud gasp, shocked at what he was seeing. _"Guys,"_ he called back over his shoulder. _"Come here and look at this!"_

_"What is it, Thomas?"_ Jones the Steam asked as he headed over.

_"I don't know,"_ replied Thomas, staring out of the cave.

As the others neared the entrance, it became apparent that there was something drastically wrong. Thomas and James were the only ones of the group who had previously been to Muffle Mountain, and both could recall what the scenery outside the cave consisted of, but the sight of the open grassland, the occasional copse of trees and distant, rolling hills they could have told the others of wasn't what had alarmed Thomas.

_"What the hell?"_ asked Jeanie as she came up to stand beside Thomas and looked at the strange sight. _"Don't they HAVE green grass in America, then? Those bloody yanks have just GOT to be different, haven't they?"_

_"It's like looking at an open-cast site,"_ said Jones the Steam looking across to Mr Dinwiddy, _"only dirtier... and everywhere!"_

_"It's blacker here than at Pugh's Pit it is,"_ said Mr Dinwiddy to his young friend. _"What is it all?"_

Jones the Steam then took a few steps along the track leading out from the cave and stooped down, brushing his hand across the top of the iron rail beside him. He brought his hand up to his nose and sniffed at the fine powder on it, and said, _"It's soot is what it is, Mr Dinwiddy! Where's it all come from?"_ then, pointing down to the wooden sleepers in front of him, he said, _"What's THAT stuff, I wonder?" _

Taking slow, cautious steps, the others came out of the cave and into the sunshine to take in the full scope of the surreal view around them. Wherever they looked, all they could see was more of the soot that Mr Jones had just identified coating practically every single blade of grass, stone and pebble in sight. It was everywhere: on the rails, the sleepers, the grass, even the vegetation that grew on the side of Muffle Mountain. Then, looking at what the welshman was pointing at, they saw some patches of what looked like lumpy black slag on the sleepers.

Jones the Steam then bent down and picked up one of the soot-covered ballast stones from the track and scraped it along the top of one of the patches. _"Uch a fi!"_ he cursed, grimacing as the rock broke through some sort of crust and some sort of black, viscous slime oozed out, sticking to the stone. _"It's like a cow-pat,"_ he said, taking a cautious sniff at the sludge-like slime before quickly dropping the ballast stone and shaking his hand as though to rid it of something disgusting. _"I don't think I'd like to touch that oozy stuff with my skin, though,"_ he said as he stood back up and looked around. _"I've never seen anything quite like this before in my life!"_

_"All this must be what Burnett Stone,"_ said Jeanie looking around herself, _"told Sir Topham about. He told him that it was stuff like this that was coming out from Lady's funnel and making her cough, and it wouldn't stop coming out even when he did something to make her fire go low when he got her back into her cave. It had to have something to do with why she lost her magic, he reckoned."_

_"Come to think of it,"_ said Thomas, walking along the track ahead of where Jones the Steam was standing, _"the way these patches are spaced out, it looks like whatever this stuff is, it's done something to the gold shavings that Lady leaves behind her when she makes Sparkle. If all this is a result of her being sick, we'll have to make sure we don't take any more of it back into the cave with us,"_ he added decisively. _"I think we ought to wash down Lady's bodywork to get all that black dust off her."_

_"We can't use the healing water for that,"_ protested Jeanie.

_"There's a water storage tank just outside inside her cave by there,"_ said Thomas, pointing towards the entrance. _"We can use water from that to wash her. It won't take long as there's a hosepipe fixed to a tap near to where she's parked up."_

_"So I don't have to hunt around for another hosepipe, then,"_ said Jeanie, smirking at him as she spoke. _"Who's being silly now, then, eh?"_ she added, before starting to giggle when she noticed a blush appear on his grey cheeks.

Thomas grinned back at her and said, _"Oops, silly me!"_

Returning back inside the cave, Jones kicked his boots against the side of a workbench to get any soot off of them, then looked over to Mr Dinwiddy and said, _"Idris is being very quiet lately, isn't he?"_

_"Aye,"_ replied Mr Dinwiddy, _"that he is. I wonder what's the matter with him. IDRIS? WHERE ARE YOU?"_

_**# I'm back here,# **_ answered the dragon. Being as large as a fully-grown cow, there wasn't much room in Lady's cave for him to safely wander about, and so he'd decided sat in an alcove near the rear doors.

_**# In case you had not noticed, Mr Dinwiddy, I'm rather larger than all of you, and I may knock something over if I wander about the cave.# **_

_"Oh, right you are, then, Idris,"_ said Jones the Steam, smiling. _"I thought you might be upset by nobody talking to you!"_

_**# I don't mind that, Mr Jones, but I am pleased we've found the engine you need to save.# **_

_"And with a bit of luck,"_ replied the short driver, _"in a few hours, we should have her going again!"_

_"HOW LONG?"_ Jeanie suddenly shrieked, staring at the welshman.

_"Oh, if we all pull together, it'll only take us an hour or so to clean out her firebox and oil her up after standing idle for so long,"_ he explained to her. _"She's bone dry inside, you know, and we'll be refilling her tanks the slow way with a hosepipe. Her fire's been out for days and she's stone cold, so it'll take an couple of hours again before the water in her boiler is hot enough to make steam. We'll no doubt have to clean out her smokebox as well,"_ he added, glancing over to Thomas and James. _"When-"_

_"FUCK NO!"_ shouted Jeanie as the memory of what she'd seen in the old photographs Sir Topham had shown her and the works managers suddenly entered her mind. _"There might be a bod-"_ but the sudden onset of a coughing fit choked off her words, and she struggled to regain her breath before finally able to gasp, _"So-sorry... it's Co-Company Business! Shit!"_ she cried out then as she started to feel her head spinning, and clutched at her head with her hands to, hopefully, stop herself from fainting.

She gasped again as conflicting thoughts began to run roughshod through her mind. The image of the robed men holding the naked woman's body in the little engine's smokebox, the need to warn her friends against discovering a possible new horror, the restrictions imposed upon her by the confidentiality clause of her employment contract that stopped her from revealing what Sir Topham had decided should remain secret as it dealt with the founding of the magical railways, the paradox of being unable to tell her friends of something she couldn't, competing arguments battling for dominance, she opened her mouth, tried to speak, but words failed to materialise. _But surely what the old man saw when he was a kid gives him some sort of idea of what went on, _a faint voice in the back of her mind said. _Surely us all being here trying to save the fucking thing means I can talk about THAT?_

Lowering her right hand, she reached inside her coat and placed her palm over her chest where the Lattice of Well-being was tucked inside her bra, and wondered why it wasn't helping her in her struggle against her constant mood-swings and general bitchiness. _"Arrgh!"_ she snarled, realising that its only purpose was to protect her from the dragon's magic, _and it's doing fuck-all for my brain! s_he thought angrily, clenching her fist tightly around the material of her shirt.

_"Fuck it!"_ she cried out. _"I... I don't know what you'll find in there. Forget I said anything. I'm just being silly again!"_

Glancing up at the others' faces, she saw a range of look on their faces. There was curiosity from the two former engines, puzzlement from Jones the Steam, and was that _recognition_ from the old man, she wondered? _Hooray! I'm now officially as crazy as he is! FU-CK! I wish... I wish I was back home and with no fucking trains for miles around!_

She unclenched her fist and reached inside the pocket of her coat for the translation, and offered it to Jones the Steam. _"Here, take it!"_ she said weakly. _"Thomas and James know what this is about... I've written some notes on the bottom. Sort it out amongst yourselves... I need to go and sit down somewhere,"_ and, turning away from them, slowly made her way back towards the tunnel where the trucks and Ivor were waiting, but stopped when she saw the dragon a few feet away as he sat silently in the alcove, staring at her.

Jeanie's reaction to the welshman's mention of Lady's smokebox had distracted Thomas and James, and now, when they turned their attention back to the magical engine, it was then that they saw what the other two had noticed but not mentioned.

_"James,"_ gasped Thomas, _"her paintwork! It's gone!"_

A look of shock appeared on James' face, appalled at the state of the magical engine. _"You're right! What happened to it?"_

_"I... I don't know,"_ replied Thomas, walking all the way around the engine and not believing what he was seeing.

When he completed his walk around, James said to him, _"Do you think it's because she lost her magic?"_

_"I don't know,"_ Thomas said quietly, his face showing how distraught he felt. _"It... it could have been all that black stuff we saw that did it."_ He brushed his hand against the side of the engine's cab, wiping away some of the dust that was sticking to it, but it made no difference. The metal below the coating of dust still looked like bare metal.

He looked glumly at James and said, _"I hope she gets it back when we save her, I really do. It... it feels wrong, looking at her when she's like this."_

ooo

_"Do you... did your father know what they did with her body?"_ Jeanie asked the dragon, feeling the heat from his body as it warmed her in the coolness of the cave.

_**# Yes, he did.# **_

_**"What... what did they do with it? Did... did they... ?"**_

_**# Yes, they burnt it, but not in the front of the engine as you feared. They burnt it in the firebox instead.# **_

Jeanie looked back at the silent engine, her mouth opening to say something, but the dragon spoke first.

_**# The runes burnt into her body were for her sacrifice. When they were destroyed by the first fire to burn inside the engine, the magic held within them drew her spirit from her, and then, when my father's fire destroyed the runes marked on the metal of the engine, the magic held within THEM pulled her spirit into the metal. She then became the spirit of the engine, living within the very metal itself. The Life-Stones inside the engine became charged and formed a connection between her spirit and the magic which she then became able to draw upon, the so-called railway magic that gave life to your not-men friends.# **_

_"When... when Thomas and James were still engines, they had these... these Life-Stones, yes?"_

_**# Yes. They are what allow the metal engines to connect to the Spirit of Life.# **_

_"These Life-Stones you're talking about... are... are they... the facets?"_ Jeanie was trying to recollect what she'd heard Sir Topham talking about after the two engines at Crovan's Gate had died, and she knew that Lawrence had told him something about the facets he'd removed from them, but not quite what he'd actually said.

Trying to think through what Idris had just revealed to her, certain observations she'd made over the last few days started coming back to her. Some of the trains, particularly the former engines, had said certain things that, at the time, she had had to stop and think about how odd they were, especially when those that had said such things should have had no right to say them, having originally only done nothing but run along two metal rails all their lives.

She tried to piece her thoughts together, to fit them inside the vague outline of the crazy notion she had that would give actual context to them, but the picture that was beginning to form in her mind was starting to turn into something she thought as too radical to believe, too unreal to contemplate despite the other crazy things she'd experienced just lately, things such as discovering that dragons actually existed, and not only being magically transported from St Tibba's Hospital to Hatt Hall, but even travelling through solid rock a quarter of the way around the world! But then she realised there was something she really needed to know but hadn't managed to have it confirmed in any way yet...

Staring into the coal-black eyes of the dragon, she asked, _"When... when she was laying on the ground, was... was she killed when your... your father burnt her?"_

The dragon cocked its head as it stared back at her, the black depths of its eyes seeming to envelop her as she stood there waiting for a reply.

_**# No.# **_

_"So... so she was still alive when... when they-"_ but she couldn't complete her question, couldn't put words to the horror playing in her mind as robed men tried to stuff a fully grown woman's body into the firebox of the little tank engine that stood only a dozen yards or so behind her.

_**# Yes.# **_

Her heart felt as though it had sunk down to her feet with its sudden heaviness, and she desperately struggled not to give in to her weakening knees as another question came to her mind. It was the one oddity she hadn't really noticed until now. She'd seen the photographs of the sacrificed woman, the crazy old man had spoken of her naked body many times, even the dragon had mentioned her just know, but during all those occasions, there was one thing not spoken of, and she wanted to know what it was before she collapsed to the ground...

_"Did... did your father know what her n-n-name was?"_

Despite her effort to remain upright, the last of her failing strength gave out as the dragon started to speak, and as her knees jarringly hit the sooty floor of the cave, it was as each word he spoke pushed her down, squashing her with the sum of their weight as they burnt their way into her mind in a cacophony of screaming flames as she tried to imagine the suffering of that poor woman, each individual word intensifying the heartbreaking sadness she felt for that naked woman as the robed men struggled to push her dead weight through the narrow opening of the engine's firebox...

_**# When the men had cause to talk to her, they referred to her as 'My Lady', but, as for an actual name, no, my father did not know it. I will say this, though, Jeanie Watkins, and though it may be of only a small comfort to you, it was done with her blessing, for she willingly asked for it to happen.# **_

The joy of actually finding the magical engine and being so close to the end of their unlikely task, an experience she would have never imagined possible just a bare seven days ago when she made plans to visit her sister, had overcome most of the despair she'd been feeling since entering the claustrophobic old tunnel. One event after another had heaped more doubt on her hope of ever being safe again on Sodor. Now, though, the emotional whirlwind she felt as she thought of the woman who had willingly gone through such unimaginable suffering in order to become a magical steam engine had one last twist of the knife to make, and she begun to feel a certain resentment towards the woman for what she, Jeanie Watkins, was going through right now.

Not understanding why she kept on getting these bouts of depression, and the shame she felt at how she imagined the others thought of her and her increasing lack of control and foul language, combined with her knowledge that the railway magic would keep on forcing her to carry on with this mission started to turn that resentment into anger and rage at herself. _I can't get away! I'm stuck here! I hate this! I... I... I think I want to di-, _and then something snapped in her mind. All of a sudden, she could no longer feel herself, and there was no hatred, no rage, no anger... only a feeling of sadness, a deep sadness that the imbalanced railway magic within her had won the battle for control over her will, and as what was left of her defeated sense of self retreated to a distant corner her mind, her head dropped down to her chest and she just stared without seeing at the ground in front of her.

She stayed that way for almost a full minute, silent and defeated, too weak and empty to fight back to regain her sense of self, her individuality. So indifferent was she to her surroundings right then that she wasn't even aware of an almost-imperceptible hiss as the tear that leaked out of the dragon's left eye as it stared silently at the young female sizzled into vapour against the hot scales of its cheek.

Idris knew what had happened to the woman, and felt anger brewing inside. He could feel the fire glands within his chest and throat reacting to it, and he knew that he had to get out into the open air before he reacted, with disastrous consequences to anyone near him, and in this case, the young female only a few feet away. Turning his head to where the light from outside was illuminating the cave, he calculated that, yes, he could actually get out without damaging anything, and, feeling the increased pressure within his chest, he got up off his haunches and stepped out of the alcove, taking a couple of paces towards the lighted entrance. Then, with a loud crack of his wings and almost blowing the motionless Jeanie over onto her side, he took off straight towards the roof of the cave, changing the angle of his flight just in time so that, with one more fierce sweep of his wings before drawing them close to his flanks, he had enough momentum to clear the top of the magical engine, and soared outside.

Another mighty sweep of his wings took him up almost a hundred feet before looking down for a target to vent his rage. A solitary, nearby tree had the misfortune to be selected, and Idris took in a deep, long breath, holding it in for several seconds before letting it out with as much force as he could manage. The tree, its leaves and branches, all of them coated by a fine, black sediment, were obliterated by the immense blast of white-hot righteous fury from the dragon. The ball of roiling, hot flame then splashed onto the ground beyond the tree's shattered remains, and left a wide patch of bare, scorched earth in its wake before dispersing into the air in a haze of black smoke.

_"Wha-?"_ exclaimed Jones, standing on Lady's front buffer beam when what sounded like a crack of doom echoed round the cave, then, something large and red shot over his head and out of the cave's entrance behind him. Realising the blur was Idris, he jumped down to the ground and ran out of the cave after the dragon, but jumped in fright when a tree about a hundred yards to his left suddenly exploded in a firestorm. Then, catching a glimpse of Idris in the sky above him, he looked up just in time to see the dragon accelerate upwards at such a rate that a black cloud of soot was blasted off the ground by the back-draught from his wings. Jones then frowned as he watched his friend's body dwindle away until becoming nothing more than a small speck against the blue sky.

Hearing footsteps behind him, he turned round and saw Mr Dinwiddy approaching. _"I wonder what THAT was all about?"_ he said to his old friend, hoping that the man who lived with the dragon in his gold mine would maybe have some understanding of why Idris had seemingly deserted them in such a manner.

_"I don't know, Jones,"_ Mr Dinwiddy replied glumly, _"but I believe he's a bit upset over something he is."_

_"Do you think he'll come back when he's cooled down a bit?"_ asked Thomas as he came out to see what all the commotion was about and hearing what the old man had just said.

_"We'll have to wait and see,"_ said Jones the Steam, despite looking rather doubtful. _"I've never seen him do anything like that before now. I just don't know, Thomas. Sorry."_

The former engine then started to worry that after all they'd been through to finally be in a position where they could save Lady, it had all been in vain now that the magical dragon had seemingly abandoned them.

_"I say we should carry on,"_ said James encouragingly when he saw the look of sadness on his friend's face, _"and like Mr Jones just said, we'll have to wait and see if he comes back. After all, we can't just leave Lady as she is!"_

_"I suppose not,"_ replied Thomas without much enthusiasm, turning to go back into the cave.

The others then started to follow him, each of them wondering if they'd ever see the enigmatic dragon again.

ooo

Sir Topham put down the phone and started thinking over the message that Harold the Helicopter's flight controller had just passed on to him. The very idea of Diesel 10 wanting to stay behind and help repair Edward was very surprising, especially when taking into account the diesel, no, former diesel's past history with the steamies. _Maybe,_ Sir Topham thought to himself, _the reprimand I gave him a few days ago has had a good effect on him, and he realised how important it is for them all that they learn to work together. It's certainly been more peaceful here without him stirring up trouble!_

ooo

Sitting inside the unoccupied cab of the rear power car of an express service to the north-west of England, Diesel 10, having tired of swapping tales with the gruff-sounding engine, was now pondering over what the future had in store for him once he returned to Sodor. As he stared at the receding track the train was travelling on, he thought to himself that it was all rather confusing. The lorry owner had told him that there would be a role for him when the Sodor Railways eventually fell under his control, but exactly what that role was, the former diesel couldn't quite work out.

The original plan was that the steamies would be gotten rid of and the diesels left to do all the work, which suited him just fine, as that was what he'd always wanted, and it was great to hear when he was first told it, but now, the ability to think in more detail he'd gained since being transformed had allowed him to see certain holes in the lorry owner's plan. Holes like, what was going to happen to the _former_ steamies, now that they weren't made of metal and couldn't be melted down, and since the diesels had been transformed as well, what was going to happen to _them_, and to _himself_ in particular.

The Billington's comment that he was going to kill Sir Topham was beginning to worry him, as whenever he thought about it, the complex emotions he'd also acquired were playing havoc with his thoughts. It had happened to him earlier as well, for whenever he'd had an idea to do something, especially the idea of making that tunnel roof fall down on top of Thomas and his lot. Two of the steamies, he knew, had _already_ died because of his actions, and that knowledge left him feeling quite uncomfortable inside. _What is wrong with me?_ he asked himself. _I NEVER used to feel like THIS before I changed!_

When the notion had first came to him, he'd felt something in his mind make him wonder if it was the right thing to do, and then, afterwards, when he'd been walking along the track for an hour or so, he'd begun to feel sorry for what he'd done, especially as that woman was in there as well, and now she was probably dead, he thought, returning to the present as the horror of realising that he'd likely killed a human chilled him inside, but then another part of his mind told him that it _had_ to be done; it was his real need to survive by stopping them from saving the magical engine that had made him do it, and anyway, the voice continued, he'd likely have to run far, far away in order to escape Sir Topham's wrath if it ever became known that _he_ was partly responsible for the engines changing in the first place.

Thinking of the railway owner just then, he begun to panic. _I'm supposed to be in North Wales,_ he thought. _I can't let him know I'm on Sodor! I'll have to hide somewhere where no-one will see me!_

After running his mind along all the lines he'd travelled on while working on the island, he then nodded to himself when the answer to where he could go became obvious, he'd sneak his way to the old lead mines outside Toryrock and hide in the old workings there, the place where Tiberius had found him and told him how to destroy the magical engine!

ooo

James pulled his head back out from inside Lady's firebox, put his lamp down on the footplate next to him, and called out, _"Mr Jones, sir, please come and have a look in here and tell me what you think this stuff is."_ The light from outside, now that the cave's entrance doors were open, didn't quite reach the firebox due to the engine facing towards the entrance, and so the lamp was still needed for him to see what he was doing.

The welshman came over and, after James had scooted out of his way to give him room, he knelt down to have a look for himself. _"This is a bit odd, isn't it?"_ his muffled voice said from inside the firebox. _"I've never seen anything quite like THIS before, James. Have you?"_

_"No, I haven't,"_ James replied. _"It looks like the coal melted together instead of turning to ash."_

After taking a look for himself, Thomas said, thoughtfully, _"The morning we all changed, Lady told me that she thought there was something wrong with her coal. Seeing that stuff in there, it looks like she was right, and we'll have to clean it all out before we light a new fire inside her."_

_"It's a good job we got all that Welsh coal from Mr Pugh, then,"_ said James cheerfully.

_"Yes, it is,"_ agreed Thomas. _"Come on, then, let's get started. Now,"_ he muttered to himself, glancing around the small cab, _"where does Burnett keep his rake?"_

_"I'll go and look for something to put all that strange... coal in,"_ said James, standing up.

_"And I'll go and get the trucks in here,"_ said Jones the Steam as he stepped down out of the cab. He then started to walk towards the back of the cave, but he hadn't gone more than a dozen steps when ha came across the young woman standing in his path.

_"How are you feeling, Miss Watkins?"_ he asked. It seemed a silly question to ask her, he thought to himself, seeing the wet streaks on her face. It was pretty obvious she'd been crying whilst he and the others were all outside the cave.

_"A bit numb, I think, Mr Jones, but we've got to get Lady going again, haven't we?"_ she said to him, her voice not quite containing the youthful energy he was used to hearing from her. Her eyes were looking quite puffy, he saw, and didn't seem to show as much eagerness as her words implied.

_"We'll take care of the heavy stuff, Miss Watkins... Jeanie,"_ he softly replied, then, asked her, _"Do you want to rest for a while, Jeanie?"_

_"I've no time for that, Mr Jones,"_ she stressed, _"as we've all got work to do!"_

Jones, recalling what he knew of her mental state and the way the imbalanced magic was wreaking havoc with her mind, slowly raised his left arm and gently cupped her right cheek in the palm of his hand. _"Do you want to talk about it, Jeanie?"_ he asked her, tilting his head slightly.

Jeanie gave him the slightest of nods before letting out a choked breath as she fell against his chest, sobbing. _"I... I can't fight it, Mr J.-J-Jones... I wu-wu-want to go hu-hu-home b-b-but I c-c-can't!"_

Jones wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly. Feeling her shoulders start to shake, he whispered into her ear, _"Let it out, cariad fach, let it all out."_

The woman's sobbing intensified as she tried to speak, to explain to him her fears, but gave up, and instead just allowed herself to cry into the welshman's chest. Thomas and James had, by now, found a couple of buckets and were starting to empty Lady's coal bunker, and looked at each other when they heard her start crying.

_"She's not well, is she?"_ James said to Thomas, his voice implying his words as fact rather than a question.

_"No, she's not,"_ replied Thomas. _"Maybe Lady can balance her magic for her when we bring her back to life again."_ He was really hoping they could save the magical engine, for there was no other way they would ever become engines again if they couldn't, and he didn't want to think about that at all.

_"What do you think we should do to help her?"_ James then asked him.

_"I think we should leave Mr Jones deal with her, after all, he's a human and he'll understand her much better than we can. I have enough trouble dealing with my own emotions lately. Since we changed, it's become harder for me to understand all the things I'm feeling. It was never like this when I was a tank engine. It was all so simple then, just a need to serve Sir Topham and to be on time. Now, anytime someone says anything to me or something happens, my thinking seems to go in different ways to what I'm used to."_

_"I know what you mean,"_ said James, looking back to where the sound of the crying woman was now beginning to subside. Then, turning back to face Thomas, he said, rather quietly as though revealing a secret, _"I had a strange dream a few nights ago... I dreamt I was a man working in a hospital, like what the canteen-lady was doing the other day when she washed the floor, but I was cleaning up lots of blood off the floor of the rooms where the doctors cut arms or legs off sick people, or when they had to cut them open to fix their insides. _

_"I've never even been inside a hospital before, Thomas, I'm...I was a steam engine, so there's no way I could have ever done that, but in my dream I could see what it was actually like inside, and... and I didn't like it at all. Thomas,"_ James eyes were staring now as he spoke conspiratorially, _"I saw things in those rooms that I've never seen before, things like the surgical instruments and medicines the doctors and nurses used, and, what's more, Thomas, I knew what they did with them. I felt like I was a real person in that dream, and that I'd been doing that job for a long time!"_

_"Did you dream of anything else?"_ Thomas asked with look of understanding on his face.

_"Yes,"_ James said excitedly, his eyes opening wider as he recalled more details, _"I dreamt I lived in small room in the back of a man's house, and I had a low cot to sleep on and a wobbly table to eat food off, when I had a few farthings spare to buy it, that was."_

_"Hmm,"_ said Thomas, _"I don't know what those are. When Jeanie was paying for the water, the lady in the shop asked for pounds and pence. Maybe you could ask her about it when... when she feels better again."_

_"Yes,"_ said James, nodding, _"I'll do that."_

Thomas took a deep breath and let it out in a long sigh, then said, _"I had a strange dream, too, James. I dreamt that I was driving a new tank engine, but they don't build tank engines any more; it's all diesels and electric trains these days, as you know. Anyway, I was driving this engine through the countryside and waving at people as I passed through stations and over crossings, like I used to do when I had my branch line to run when I was still an engine. I even saw some children standing on a bridge watching me go underneath, and I remember tooting at them. _

_"Later in the dream, I was going along an embankment and I saw a barge in a canal with a family on it, and I started thinking of my own family, but, James, how can I have a family if I'm really a tank engine?"_

James shook his head. _"That's silly, Thomas,"_ he mocked. _"Engine's can't have families! We're machines!"_

_"But that's what I was thinking of in my dream, James,"_ Thomas said imploringly. _"I was picturing my wife and children... five, James, I had five children!"_

Thomas then shook his head and stared down to the ground for a few moments in silence. _"I had three boys and two girls, James, and I was thinking of how much I wished they were all with me as I worked, just like the family I saw on the barge, then the rail slipped and the engine I was driving derailed and rolled down the embankment we were on... and I... I dreamt that I was being crushed under the engine, James, and... and I felt the pain of it as I was squashed into the ground and... and I think I-I think I died in my dream, James. It was the most horrible thing I've ever experienced,"_ he finished quietly.

James stared in silence at his friend for several moments, then said, _"And to think that real people have dreams every time they go to sleep at night! It makes me realise how lucky I am to be an engine... was an engine!"_

_"And we'll soon be engines again once we get Lady's magic back,"_ said Thomas eagerly, patting his friend's shoulder at the same time, _"so let's get this bunker emptied, yes?"_

Mr Dinwiddy sat on a crate of grease drums, nodding his head slowly as he listened to the young woman crying. He been in that dark place many a time since his childhood, indeed, he'd been there more times than he could count, and he didn't want to revisit that place any time soon if he could in any way help it. He knew his young friend could help her much better than he could, after all, Jones had always been there for him when the terror from his recurring nightmares of burning flesh and robed men occasionally broke through into the reality of his daily life. He knew, also, that no matter the outcome of the fantastic adventure he'd found himself in, the young woman would never truly recover, and, in his own crazy way, he grieved for her.

Jones the Steam patiently held onto the now quietly-sobbing woman as she struggled to regain her composure. When he felt the time was right, he asked her, _"Feeling any better now?"_

_"Yes. Thu-thu-thank you. I... I'm sorry I've g-got you involved in... in all this, Mr J-J-Jones. If... if-"_

_"Edwin, Jeanie,"_ Jones the Steam whispered. _"You can call me Edwin. Mister is for bosses and Railway officials, you know."_

Jeanie giggled, though it came out more like a snort. _"Thu-thank you,... Edwin,"_ she replied. _"If I d-didn't stop my car that day, we wouldn't all be s-s-stuck here. It... it's all my fault!"_

_"No it's not, Jeanie,"_ said Jones soothingly. _"These things have a way of happening to us. It's not your fault at all, lass. I could have said for us to go up to Smoke Hill first instead of getting the coal and we might not have even ended up here, but I did and we have, so I could say it's all my fault instead."_

_"I... I understand,"_ murmured Jeanie, wiping at her wet face with the sleeve of her coat.

_"Come on, love,"_ said Jones, gently turning her to face the brake van standing a few yards away, _"let's get you freshened up again and then we'll both go and say hello to Ivor and push those trucks in here. I'll bet he's wondering where we've all got to!"_

_"Oh-Okay,"_ Jeanie said quietly, just before stepping up to the welshman and giving him a peck on his cheek. "_Th-Thank you again, Edwin. You're a really nice man, you are!"_

_"I'd better not tell Mrs Jones about this,"_ he chuckled softly, touching his cheek with his fingertips, _"or I'll be sleeping in the dog's kennel when I get back home!"_

ooo

Jones powered more steam into Ivor's pistons and the little green engine gave a mighty push to the wagons in front of him. _"Come on, my old friend,"_ the welsh driver said encouragingly, _"You can do it!"_

It had been easy for the little engine earlier, as the old tunnel had a slight downward gradient, and it hadn't taken much of an effort for Ivor to set the procession going. Now, though, they were on a flat length of track, and with the weight of the large blue engine further downline, it was harder for him.

_"prrp!"_ replied Ivor softly, not wanting to deafen Jones in the tunnel.

_"Well done, Ivor!"_ said Jones as he felt the wagons in front give a little. _"One more go, but only a few yards, mind you. We don't want to shunt into Lady!"_ then, after a series of loud clanking of buffers, the procession started to roll slowly forward.

"Pshhhhtehkooff-Pshhhhtehkooff-..."_"YES!"_ cried Jones. "_You did it, Ivor. Now, listen carefully for James' shout to stop!"_

A few seconds passed as they rolled forward and then Jones heard the former engine's shout. He applied Ivor's brakes and the little engine "Ssssssssshed" to a stop.

Once the procession of wagons came to a halt just three feet away from Lady's rear buffers, James walked past Edward and secured the brake van's handbrake with Burnett Stone's shunting pole. _"Okay, Mr Jones, all secure this end,"_ he called out.

Edward was surprised when he'd heard Thomas' earlier cries to the magical engine, and had been very disappointed when there was no reply from her. _She must be completely gone,_ he thought to himself, _or she can't hear him in his human form. Maybe if _I_ try_..."

**_~Lady, it's Edward. Can you hear me?~_**, but not even _he_ got a reply. Yes, it was great, he thought, that they'd managed to arrive in her cave, but his breakdown earlier that day was still casting a gloom over him. Being so far away from North Wales, he then realised, there would be no way for the replacement coupling rod to get to him. Glumly, he settled back down, and hoped that Thomas, James and the others could manage to save her, or they'd all be stuck there for evermore.

_"Don't worry, old friend,"_ said James as he saw the disappointed look on Edward's face, _"we'll do our best to save her."_

ooo

As James and Thomas waited for the welshman to walk back to them, Thomas said, _"Right, seeing as you're stronger than me, James, I'll make a start cleaning out her firebox while you finish emptying her bunker. There's not much of the bad coal left in there so it shouldn't take you that long. Mr Jones can help us by cleaning out her smokebox."_

He then looked back anxiously to see if Jeanie had heard what he'd just said, wondering if she'd get upset again. Thankfully, she wasn't within earshot, and he continued with his instructions, _"First, though, we'll put a couple of the water barrels up on top of Lady's tanks so that Jeanie and Mr Dinwiddy can fill them both at the same time. Have you cut the pipes yet?"_

_"No, not yet,"_ said James. _"I'll go and do it now."_

Whilst looking for buckets for the coal, James had come across a spare length of hosepipe, which he now went to get, as well as hopefully find a knife to cut it with to get two shorter pieces they could then use to siphon with.

Soon, Jeanie and Mr Dinwiddy were standing on either side of Lady's boiler, filling her two small tanks with the healing water while Thomas raked out the congealed mess the bad coal had made inside her firebox. James was trudging back and fore between the engine and coal truck with a bucket in each hand, and Jones the Steam had just opened the engine's smokebox door, but then he startled everyone when he cried out, _"Oh my goodness!"_

Everyone turned to look at him and Jeanie's heart started racing. _Dontpanictheresnoabodyinthere... dontpanictheresnotabodyinthere..._

_"What is it, Mr Jones?"_ asked Thomas, trying to decide between interrupting his raking to go over for a look or just staying where he was for the welshman to tell them.

Jeanie, however, as she held her breath in anticipation while she waited for Mr Jones to speak, knew there was no way on earth _she_ was going to look inside that part of the engine, and James couldn't go over until he put down the heavy buckets he was carrying.

_"It's like a tangled black web,"_ said Jones the Steam to James when he arrived shortly at the front of the engine, then he began to poke at the strands of cord-like material that stretched from one side of the smokebox to the other and from the top to the bottom.

James slowly shook his head, and agreed with Mr Jones. _"It's like black string,"_ he muttered. _"I know bad coal that doesn't burn properly can get sucked in here from the firebox; it's happened to me in the past, and it made me start coughing, but this is something else."_

Jones then pulled at one of the thin strands, snapping it, and started to play with it between his fingers, noticing a fine powder coming off it. He smelled his fingers and grimaced before saying, _"It's got that same strange smell as the soot we saw outside, but instead of sludgy, it's like hard string. This is weird, James."_

James reached in to get a piece of it for himself. It felt a bit heavy for solid ash or coal, and when he dropped to the ground to see what would happen, it made a soft 'clunk'. _"Yes,"_ he replied, _"it's very weird indeed, Mr Jones."_

Feeling relieved that they hadn't found a body inside the smokebox, despite the dragon telling her that the woman's body was burnt in the firebox, and that what Mr Jones-, no, _Edwin_ had found was just more of the bad coal, Jeanie was about to turn her thoughts back to what she was doing with her hosepipe when she suddenly realised just where Thomas was working, but, thankfully, he hadn't cried out in alarm at finding any scorched remains of bones or anything, _besides, _she told herself, _they'd have been completely burnt away to nothing by now_.

It needed both the former engines to lift a full water barrel down off the drop-sider and carry it over to Lady when the old man had told them that the one he had was empty, and knowing that the one Jeanie had would also need to be replaced, they went back for another one straight away rather than have their own jobs be interrupted again, but James, who was up on the wagon, had tilted the barrel back and started to roll it towards Thomas, who was waiting on the ground, he tripped over the handle of the broken wheelbarrow that he'd put on the wagon to cover the old man's sack when they first gave him a lift, and let go of it as he tried to regain his balance, leaving it to fall over onto its side and roll towards the edge of the wagon. Thomas, as he reached his arms out to stop it falling onto the ground and breaking open, only just avoided getting his hands crushed as it rolled towards him.

_"Watch what you're doing, please, James,"_ he said as he finally managed to stop it falling. _"When Lady turns us back into engines, I don't want to have broken buffers!"_

_"No,"_ laughed James as he gripped one end of the barrel, _"I don't suppose you will. Just imagine if when we manage to get back to Sodor, they only have spare DIESEL buffers to put on you!"_

Some time later, as she watched the water flow out of the end of her hosepipe and into Lady's tank, Jeanie had a sudden thought. When she saw James return with more of the Welsh coal, she said to him, _"James, just how long has Lady worked here?"_

Pausing before tipping the coal in his bucket into Lady's bunker, he paused to think, then said, _"After she was first made, I think. Is that right, Thomas?"_

_"I think so,"_ said Thomas. _"About eighty years ago or so, I think,"_ he added after a second or so.

Jeanie cast her eyes around the cave, then asked, _"And she usually gets her water from that water tank outside, yeah?"_

_"That's right,"_ said Thomas. _"Didn't you see the pipe coming from it when we walked past it?"_

_"No,"_ said Jeanie. _"I was too busy looking where I was putting my feet in case I stood in some of that black shitty stuff!"_

_"Oh,"_ said Thomas. _"Well, the water comes in through that pipe along the wall behind you,"_ he then said, pointing to the cave wall behind Jeanie's back, _"and Burnett uses that rubber pipe fixed to the tap to fill her tanks. The tank outside hasn't got a top so it gets filled with rainwater. If there's a dry spell here and the level gets too low, he takes a few empty drums to Shining Time Station on the back of his pick-up and gets some from the water tower there."_

_"Hmm,"_ Jeanie acknowledged, and turned to look behind her and, yes, it was just as she'd thought. The pipe was that old it was the thick grey lead pipe that she knew shouldn't be used in houses.

_"Thomas,"_ she then said, turning her head back to face him, _"do you think she's got lead poisoning from that old pipe?"_

Thomas and James looked at each other, then James said, _"I wouldn't think so; engine's don't suffer from things like that."_

_"Besides,"_ said Jones the Steam, _"that pipe isn't really long enough to have much of an effect on the water, and it's a gravity flow, not pressurised; there's barely any force at all against the inside of the pipe."_

_"Oh,"_ said Jeanie. "_Sorry, I just thought-, never mind, I'm being silly again."_

_"No,"_ said Thomas. _"You were right to ask that, after all, it's something we'd never have thought of, isn't that right, James?"_

_"I'd never have thought of that,"_ he replied, shaking his head. _"We engines only know how to pull things and that we have to run to timetables."_

_"Anyway,"_ said Jeanie, then, with a small smile, _"It was just a thought I had,"_ her low esteem somewhat mollified.

Looking at the others as they worked on their various tasks, she couldn't help feeling slightly better within herself, and a bit more confident that they were all on the right track. Smirking to herself at her own pun, she then had a thought that there was something important she'd forgotten about. Mentally running through the translation, she couldn't think of anything they'd left out, except for the temporarily missing dragon that had the coat of blood. Hopefully, she thought to herself, he'll return in his own good time, _as long as he does return, _she concluded.

ooo

Over an hour and a half had gone by and both of Lady's water tanks were now full, her firebox and smokebox were cleared of any ash or bad coal, and her coal bunker was filled to the top with the good Welsh coal, so they were all taking a break inside the brake van to have some food.

_"Right,"_ said Jeanie, stacking the empty plates together. _"Mr-, Edwin, can I have the translation back, please?"_

She felt a bit more like herself, now, but could still feel the railway magic driving her actions, and instead of renewing her fight for control, she'd decided to just let it have its way, thinking that by doing that, if they did actually manage to get save Lady, she may know of a way how they could get back home again.

Taking the folded sheet of paper from him, she opened it out and placed it on the fold-down table, and said, _"The healing water from Glastonbury is in Lady's tanks, the rock that burns, which we've decided is the Welsh coal, is in her bunker, and we're waiting for the one with the coat of blood to come back and do his bit, which is what, exactly? It says here that he must eat or consume or something-or-other the rock-, sorry, the coal, in order for Lady to breath the spirit of life again, which I take it means she gets her magic back. Any ideas, guys, just what part exactly does Idris play in all this?"_

"_What does the 'Sacred is He that devours' bit mean?"_ asked James.

"_I...I don't know,"_ said Jeanie. _"The translation isn't clear on that. Sir Topham's grandfather put a question mark after eat/overcome because it was the best he could do to translate the undeciphered glyph, but if Idris is to eat the coal, what does he do after that, and what does 'overcome' really mean?"_

"_Maybe,"_ said Thomas, recalling what the dragon had done to open the tunnel doors, _"he lights Lady's fire for her."_

"_Of course,"_ exclaimed James excitedly, _"and then all the parts would be accounted for. The healing water turned to steam by the rocks that burn after being lit by the one with the coat of blood!"_

"_And then Lady will get her magic back and change us back into engines,"_ Thomas said, smiling at him.

"_Let's get started, then,"_ said James standing up and heading to the door to the veranda.

_"But Idris isn't back yet,"_ Jeanie called after him as he went outside. _"It's no good if we start without him, and we haven't worked out what the overcome bit means yet!"_

_"But we can at least try to get Lady under steam again,"_ James called back to her. _"Even if Idris has to breath his fire into her firebox after we've lit it, it'll still be his fire going into her!"_

_"I agree,"_ said Thomas, looking at Jeanie as he, too, stood up to leave. _"At the moment, without Idris here, we've got nothing to lose and everything to gain."_

Resigned to what the two former engines had decided, Jeanie sighed. _"Okay,"_ she said, and she, too, got up to leave. _"Come on, then, Mr Jones, sorry, Edwin, you as well, crazy old man. Let's go and play trains."_

oooOOOooo


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

As they approached the lifeless engine, Jeanie listened to Thomas and James enthuse on how wonderful it would be once they'd saved her and she changed them back into steam engines. _They're going to bugger this up, _she thought, then tried to think of a way she could dampen their over-eagerness. _"Er,"_ she said, wondering what the reaction from the two former engines would be to what she was about to say, _"Thomas, James, how do you feel if I suggest that Mr Jones take charge of starting her up? I mean, he does the same thing with Ivor every day, and I just thought-"_

_"Yes,"_ said James.

_"I agree,"_ said Thomas.

_"-that he may-, uh, what? You don't mind? But I thought you both want-"_

_"We agree with you, Jeanie,"_ said Thomas, nodding, _"as long as we can help him. Mr Jones?"_

It wasn't every day the welshman was asked to take part in a moment of railway history, despite practically doing it every work day in the form of Ivor. Firing up the engine that was regarded as being the "mother" of all the Sodor steam engines, the one they all depended on to exist in their own right, well, there was only one thing he could say, _"Um... if you're sure that, then I'd be honoured to."_

As Thomas, James and Jones the Steam then debated with each other the merits of firing up the engine inside the cave or getting Ivor to push her out into the open air, the presence of the foul, black sediment outside was considered to be too much of a risk, whilst the fact that the cave had air vents in its roof finally had the three of them in agreement - they would light her up inside the cave. All Jeanie could hold in her mind just then as she stood beside Lady's cab was the thought that the magical engine that had spoken to her a few days ago in Hatt Hall was about to be woken up, hopefully. Then, a rush of questions raced through her mind: What would Lady say to her once she noticed her presence? Would she be able to actually hear and speak to the magical engine? What would that actually _feel_ like?

The esteem and repect that both Thomas and James had shown towards the engine whenever they'd talked about her during their journey to Llaniog made Jeanie feel as though she was about to be introduced to the Queen or something, and she began to feel rather insignificant, unworthy, even, as she waited, watching the men as they started their preparations to fire-up the engine. _That's just the railway magic making me feel like that,_ she thought, then. _Get a grip on yourself, Jeanie_, y_ou're a human being, not an bloody steam engine!_ Wrapping her arms around herself as a cold shiver ran down her back, she waited impatiently, yet still with a sense of excitement for the men to pull their collective fingers out and get on with it.

ooo

Mr Dinwiddy quietly bounced on the balls of his feet, his heart racing as he waited to see something extraordinary happen. He was about to something that may have been like what he'd ran away from all those years ago when he'd fled from the old tunnel by Smoke Hill, wondering if this was anything like the way Ivor had been created in order for _him_ to talk to people.

Edwin Jones hummed quietly to himself as he carried some short planks of wood and pieces of broken crate from the woodpile near the entrance doors back to the engine, passing Thomas as the former engine was on his knees reaching into the magical engine's running gear with an oil can, lubricating various joints and other moving parts. James was doing the same on the other side of the engine, and Jeanie was waiting by Lady's cab after accepting his invitation to watch and learn how to fire up a locomotive.

She'd told him as they left the brake van that she hadn't had that opportunity during their long journey to Wales as Edward's fire was kept alight all the time, and only being damped down overnight before being topped up again the following morning. He gestured with his head for her to climb up, then gave Mr Dinwiddy, who had now gone back to sit on his crate of grease canisters to wait, a cheerful grin.

The old man nodded back to him before turning to stare at the front of the engine. He'd learned that this and the ones on Sodor had faces, and he wanted to see what this one's looked like, and if it was anything like that of the naked woman he'd seen as a child. His lips closed in a grim smile as he began his wait, he struggled to stop his hands from trembling with anxiety.

Throwing the wood into the engine's firebox, Jones spoke to Jeanie of the importance of ensuring that the fire, once it started, burned evenly under the engine's crown sheet, the plate that separated the firebox from the boiler above, so that no uneven expansion of the metal took place and cause a boiler explosion, which would kill them all, he grimly added. Jeanie gulped nervously on hearing that, but continued to listen to the welshman as he carried on with his explanation.

_"Piling on too much coal before the fire has a chance to reach its optimum temperature 'drowns' the fire,"_ he said, _"by cutting off the oxygen the fire needs for it to burn. On the other hand, not enough coal to burn would mean a low temperature and not enough steam for the engine to operate, so it's a careful balancing act to keep the fire at just the right temperature and mass. Of course,"_ he added, smiling as he struck a match to light the oily rag he'd just put on the blade of the shovel he was holding, _"every steam engine is different, and it doesn't take much to upset that balance before things start to go wrong."_ Jones then used to the length of the shovel to deposit the now-burning rag at the far end of Lady's firebox, then, as he lit another rag, he spoke again.

_"The other important thing to watch out for is the level of water in her boiler,"_ and Jeanie saw him look up at two glass tubes on the engine's control panel. _"Too much water and it won't turn to steam quick enough, and may even collect in her cylinders. Too little and we run the risk of overheating her crown sheet as the heat has nowhere else to go."_ A boiler explosion, he knew, would destroy not only himself and the others in the cave with him, but also any hope at all of saving the rest of the Sodor engines, and no doubt bringing down a sizeable chunk of Muffle Mountain on top of them as well. _But that won't matter,_ a dark part of his mind told him, _as we'd have all been blown to bits by the blast!_

Soon, the wood inside the firebox was burning nicely and Jones shovelled in some coal. Meanwhile, Thomas and James carefully checked the engine's exterior to make sure nothing untoward was happening and catch them unawares. Jeanie, however, was losing her battle to keep up with the welshman as he first opened one valve, then another whilst talking about what he was doing, which was no help to her as once she'd managed to understand what one gauge was for and moved her eyes to the next, he was doing something else. In the end, trying to remember the difference between a boiler pressure and steam chest pressure gauge got too much for her, and she decided to simply watch the man work and let his words drift over her head, besides, it was taking forever for the water to warm up! _At least,_ she thought to herself as he shovelled some more coal in, _it's getting a bit warmer inside this fucking cave!_

ooo

Slowly, but surely, as the day wore on, the water in Lady's boiler got hotter and hotter and, as the boiler pressure increased, a slow but steady hissing was heard as steam began to form and Jones slightly adjusted her intake injector, nodding to himself. _"We're making progress,"_ he said, turning his head to face Jeanie, then he leant out of the cab and called out, _"James, can you check outside to see if our wayward dragon is about, please?"_

James went out and had a good look, even scanning every bit of the sky above, but there was no sign of the creature. Returning inside, he called out, raising his voice to be heard over the loud hissing of steam, _"No, not yet, he's not."_

_"Okay, thank you, James"_ said Jones, and, after running his eyes over the gauges once more, checked that Lady's cylinder cocks were open. That would be necessary, he explained to Jeanie, as when they wanted to start moving the engine, any water that had condensed in her cylinders what with her standing idle for so long would cause too much pressure and maybe cause _them_ to explode. Nodding to himself again, he re-checked her steam chest pressure gauge and smiled. Too much pressure and they would blow the engine's pressure relief valve, wasting all the valuable steam they'd just built up, and too little would mean that they wouldn't have enough to start her moving. _"You're doing fine, my beauty,"_ he said, gently patting the bare metal next to the pressure gauge.

Thomas smiled happily as he heard Lady's steam pressure build up, and went over to stand beside the cab, watching in rapt attention as Jones occasionally adjusted her water intake valve or shovelled some coal into her firebox. Soon, he thought to himself, Lady will have her magic _and_ lovely paintwork back. Suddenly, the welshman gave a couple of light tugs on the engine's whistle cord, the short but piercing shrieks making Jeanie jump in fright as she snapped out of her daydream, and he chuckled, then he heard Jones the Steam say, _"We're ready to roll now, Thomas."_

Thomas' amused smile turned into a big grin and he cheered, _"YES!"_

_"CLEAR THE LINE,"_ Jones then shouted, looking out of the cab until he could see that both James and Mr Dinwiddy were safely out of the way, not forgetting in his own excitement once he'd squeezed past Jeanie to lean out of the other side of the cab for a safety check, _"AND THIS TIME, COVER YOUR EARS!"_ he added before giving the whistle cord two more tugs, but longer.

He grinned as he saw Jeanie's face scrunch up as the shrill screams resounded inside the cave despite her covering her ears. Then, he set the engine's reverser forward and, after releasing the brakes, he grasped the regulator and yanked it back towards him, causing Jeanie, who, unlike Thomas, certainly wasn't expecting it, to stumble back against the rear wall of the cab as the engine lurched forward. _"Oops, sorry!"_ he said apologetically to her as he pushed the regulator back most of the way to reduce power. As the engine slowly continued to roll forward, he quickly checked the cylinder cocks' exhaust, saw steam being vented, and closed them off. Both Thomas and James' cries of happiness were a joy to hear as, after a couple of adjustments to the engine's reverser and regulator, he drove the engine out of the cave and into the bright afternoon sunlight.

After travelling several yards from the entrance, he brought the small engine to a stop, set her brakes and turned to face Thomas. Frowning, he said, _"Um...?"_

The former engine turned to look down at James, who had come to stand alongside, who looked first back at Thomas and then at the welshman who then finished asking what was on his mind. _"Er... what's supposed to happen now?"_

After the whistle blasts and as the small engine started to move forward, Mr Dinwiddy leapt up from the crate he was sitting on and start to jump up and down with glee, giggling hysterically. Jeanie, on the other hand, uncovered her ears and wondered what the signs were that one was in the presence of an actual MAGICAL engine and, as they moved nearer the entrance, waited to hear Lady's voice in her mind. She wondered whether it would be musical like what she heard whenever the dragon spoke to her, or would it be like actual words when the engine had first spoken to her. Either way, she just didn't know, and decided to wait for whatever happened to happen.

Once they were outside the not-so-big mountain, she squinted her eyes against the light and tried to see if there was any sign of the dragon anywhere, but all she could see was the undulating countryside, some isolated trees and, of course, the railway track leading off to, she assumed, the town of Shining Time. It was surreal, she thought, seeing the black ground against the bright, cloudless blue sky, and she wondered idly how long the stuff would stay there despoiling the otherwise beautiful scenery.

_"Did it work, Mr Jones?"_ Mr Dinwiddy's voice called out from behind her. _"Is the Magic Lady back with us?"_

_"Um... I don't know, Mr Dinwiddy,"_ Jones replied. _"I can't feel her like I can Ivor. Can you, Thomas? James?"_

Thomas looked as James as he replied, _"Er...no, I can't feel her, either. Can you, James?"_

_"No,"_ James replied, shaking his head. _"I can't."_

_"Lady,"_ he then called out, climbing up to join the others in the small cab, _"are you there?"_

They waited with bated breath, hoping that it was just going to be a little time the magical engine needed before she could speak back to them, and they carried on waiting, the four occupants of her small cab all glancing back and forth at each other in total silence bar the engine's gentle huffing and quiet hiss of escaping steam, but after almost a minute and still no response, Jeanie knew she had to say something.

_"Lady, it's me, Jeanie Watkins,"_ said Jeanie, wondering if it was better to speak out loud to the engine or try to send a mental message to her, something she had no idea how to do.

_"LADY!"_ Thomas called out.

_"LADY!"_ James repeated.

_"Er... Lady?"_ Jones the Steam called out inquiringly.

_"Maybe we need Ivor here,"_ said Jeanie, looking first at Thomas after it became obvious to them all that no reply was forthcoming, then she looked at James, and then at Mr Jones before adding, _"after all, he's magical, in a sense, isn't he?"_

_"We could try,"_ said Jones the Steam, looking back at the cave entrance. _"I don't know how useful he'll be, though. It's not as though they could bump their buffers together, the trucks are-"_ for some unknown reason, he'd thought of the film he'd seen as a kid where the prince woke up Sleeping Beauty with a kiss, and choked back on a morbid laugh, disguising it clearing his throat, _"in the way."_

_"I wish Edward was here,"_ said Thomas, then. _"maybe she'd hear HIM."_

_"I wish Idris would come back,"_ said Jeanie, looking up to the sky above her. The translation said they needed the one with the coat of blood, but he wasn't here, and trying to save her without him was a mistake. She knew then that they'd fucked it all up good and proper. _Sir Topham will be livid,_ she thought to herself, _and I'll be the one they all blame! FUCK!_ Clamping her jaws shut tight, she swallowed, desperately refusing to let out the wail of despair she felt rising inside her.

Unseen by the others as he perched high up the rocky side of Muffle Mountain, Idris looked down at the engine as thin tendrils of smoke rose out of its narrow funnel. He'd agreed to help the female and the not-men save the magical engine, and his two human friends, Jones the Steam and Mr Dinwiddy wanted to help them as well, and he knew how he'd feel if he went back on his word again. Having given up on his vow of revenge against the Hatt Bloodline was one thing, but he didn't want to start making habit of such behaviour, especially if it gave rise to getting a name for himself as an untrustworthy dragon, especially not to his two friends. With a low rumble of his throat, he readied himself for flight and took off.

As the three male and one woman stepped out from the engine's cab to go over the translation again, they didn't bother maintaining their upward search and, hence, were all quite startled when something fell out of the sky to land on the ground near them with barely a sound and only a gentle waft of displaced air.

_"Rather a dramatic entrance, there, Idris, old friend,"_ said Jones the Steam. He knew he could get away with such a greeting as the dragon was quite often described by Mr Dinwiddy as being something of a drama queen.

_**# I am here to keep my word to your friends, Mr Jones.# **_

_"Much as I'm glad to see you back, Idris,"_ said Jeanie, frowning, _"I begrudge saying 'welcome back' to you as whenever we get this close to each other and talk about things, I always end up crying, so if I seem a bit ungrateful, I'm not. Just saying, is all."_

_**# I understand what you are saying, young female.# **_

Turning back to the others, Jeanie then said, _"Do you agree with me, then,"_ said Jeanie looking back down at the translation she was holding, _"that the water we got from Glastonbury, the water that is reputed to be healing water from the well that's been flowing for the past God-know-how-long, was supposed to go in her tanks? Remember, people drink this water to help them get better and to improve their health, so they say."_

_"It sounds right,"_ said Jones the Steam, _"after all, the only other thing we can do with it is either drink it ourselves or use it to wash down her bodywork."_

_"It says,"_ continued Jeanie, _"and I quote, __'She to drink of the Mother herself'. Now, even to me, and I know fuck all about steam engines, that that sounds like it should have gone into her water tanks, yeah?"_

_"Yes,"_ said Thomas, _"I agree."_

_"And me,"_ said James.

_**# So do I.# **_

_"Thank you,"_ said Jeanie, looking at the people, and dragon, standing around her, though Edwin had gone back inside Lady's cab. _"Old man, what do you say? Did we do that part right?"_

_"Oh, yes you did,"_ said Mr Dinwiddy, nodding. _"She was thirsty all right, if her tanks were dry like Jones the Steam said."_

_"They were dry all right, Mr Dinwiddy,"_ confirmed the welshman. _"You saw for yourself when you were filling them you did."_

_"Right,"_ said Jeanie, _"and do you all agree that Idris here, now that he's back,"_ she added, glancing at the dragon and smirking at him, _"has what can be said to be is a coat of blood. Now, bear in mind that when they first wrote this, they used words that are metaphorical-like, words that give fancy descriptions to things and might not actually be like how they really sound. I don't think anyone, or thing," she said, glancing again at the dragon, "has a coat that's made of real blood."_

_"He's red like blood all right,"_ said Jones the Steam, _"so I would go along with that."_

Thomas and James both nodded their heads thoughtfully, while Mr Dinwiddy smiled and said, _"Oh, yes. He's red like the blood of his ripped-open prey he is!"_

A soft gurgling resonated in the dragon's throat and Jones the Steam laughed.

_"And I personally,"_ Jeanie said unreservedly, _"think that when he speaks to me, I've never heard anything so pure in all my life!"_

_"You should hear him when he sings in our choir,"_ Jones the Steam said to her. _"His voice is so pure we all have tears in our eyes when he stops, and that's not a joke, I hasten to add."_

_"Right,"_ said Jeanie, nodding, _"that settles it so far, then. Now, the rock that burns... what about that? Mr Jones, what do you think?"_

_"Well, yes. The only other rock that burns is molten lava like there used to be in Smoke Hill, as far as I know, but I don't think we're supposed to drop your engine into a volcano, though. It would melt her away it would, and don't forget, that's good Welsh anthracite she's burning. You won't find any better!"_

_"He's right,"_ said James. "_That's what did the job for Henry when he was ill that time!"_

_"Yes,"_ said Thomas, nodding in agreement, _"it's definitely the right coal for Lady!"_

_"Idris,"_ Jeanie then said, looking at the dragon yet again, _"why would anyone think of you as being sacred?"_

_**# We dragons are long-lived. We live for hundreds of years and, back in the old days, the 'good old days' according to my great-uncle Ianto, humans used to think we were so special they sacrificed their virgin daughters to us. Quite tasty they were, too, so Ianto's cousin Geraint once said.# **_

_"I... think I understand,"_ said Jeanie, grimacing as she pictured screaming young girls tied to stakes as a dragon flew down to eat her. _"Well,"_ she continued, after gulping back the bile in her throat, _"I dare say that's a good enough reason, so, that leaves us with one final thing to agree on, and that is the bit about eating or overcoming the rock tha-, er, the coal. Idris, what else can YOU do with coal?"_

_**# Apart from fuelling my flame, it keeps dragon eggs warm as it burns.# **_

_"Oh,"_ said Jeanie, not really sure if that was any help to her, but any further thoughts she may have had were brought to a halt when, from inside the cab, they suddenly heard Jones the Steam laughing.

Jeanie and the others then turned to stare at the welshman, wondering what on earth was so funny to set him off in such a way.

_"I... HA-HA... Oh, I'm sorry,"_ he gasped, bending over and resting his hands on his knees, _"but I think I know what we, or rather, Idris must do! Ha-ha-hee-hee! Idris, do you remember exactly where you were when you hatched out of your egg?"_

_**# But of course I do, Mr Jones, I was inside Ivor's firebox.# **_

_"And where were you when the choir and I first actually saw you for the first time after we heard such beautiful singing?"_

_**# I was... of course, Mr Jones, I see now what you mean,# **_, and the dragon also started chuckling, though this took the form of a series of bark-like coughs together with small wafts of black smoke from his nostrils.

_"What's going on?"_ asked Jeanie, confused by the pair's strange behaviour, also slightly annoyed that it wasn't helping her to solve their problem with Lady. _"What's so funny?"_ she demanded. _"We've still got to work out what eat or overcome means!"_

Even the two former engines were looking strangely at the welshman as he grinned down at the dragon.

_**# I do believe,# **_ the dragon said to her, _**# that I have your answer. Be ready for me, Jones the Steam,# **_ and he soared up into the air with a loud crack and a draught of wind that disturbed a quite sizeable cloud of soot from the ground, startling Jeanie.

She then watched as the dragon shot upwards for several seconds before circling round and rapidly descending again until he was only about thirty feet above Lady when he suddenly stopped and hovered, his wings beating against the air around him to keep him in one place.

_**# Are you ready, Mr Jones?# **_ the dragon then called down.

_"In a moment, Idris,"_ replied the welshman before stepping down from Lady's cab. _"It's open for you!"_

_"What's going on?"_ asked Thomas, his head facing up as he, too, stared at Idris.

_"It's something special he used to do when he was smaller,"_ explained Jones the Steam, _"when Ivor needed some help to get up a steep hill. Watch closely now, Thomas..."_

The dragon then orientated himself to point towards the engine's coal bunker, and started to fall down to the ground, no, thought Jeanie as she stared wide-eyed at Idris, not the ground, then she gasped as, just about when she thought the creature was going to crash into the roof of the engine's cab, its body seemed to fade into a red mist before stretching into a long, thin line that then curved under the top of the cab before disappearing into the engine's firebox. _"What the-"_ she started, but then a loud, high-pitched, screeching wail was heard from the magical engine.

The noise seemed to come from the very metal itself as strange glyphs and bind runes started to appear all over her cab, bodywork and smokebox, flashing brightly in some random pattern for a few moments before fading back into the engine's grey metalwork. Then the whole of the engine began to glow with a light sheen which became brighter and brighter with such intensity that Jeanie stepped back in alarm, quickly shielding her eyes as a sudden flash of light filled the air.

Fearing that the engine was going to explode right then, panic induced her to start running blindly away, but instead of the heat from an explosive blast, she heard a deep, thrumming sound that then began to increase in pitch, and quickly becoming too unbearable to listen to, and she turned away from the engine before she moved her hands to cover her ears lest the bright light still be there and blind her. That was not enough, though, for she soon discovered that the noise didn't need only her ears for it to be perceived, for the thrumming then turned into a discordant, jarring chime and she began to feel her body vibrate inside, feeling it first inside her chest as though her heart was actually shaking, then down her arms and legs, and she almost fell over when a sharp pain shot suddenly through her heart, forcing her to arch backwards and scream in agony, too distracted by it all to realise that her friends were also suffering.

Thomas, his back against the side of Lady's cab, felt as though he was being squashed again, and a tiny part of his mind suggested to him that what he was experiencing must have been like what old engines felt when they went to the scrapyard to be broken up. James, though, as he wrapped his arms tightly around himself to try and stop the pain he was feeling in them, thinking at the same time that this was what people must feel when their being cut off, tried to run round in small circles to distract himself from the agonising pressure that was building up inside his chest. He thought, if he still had a boiler, then it was going to blow!

Jones, his teeth gritted tightly together as he went through the worst torment he could have ever imagined, was trying to recite The Lord's Prayer, in welsh of course, as he prepared to die.

He'd learnt it in Sunday School when he was little, and, being a God-fearing person like so many of his peers back in Wales were, it was, he thought to himself as he struggled against the pain to get the words out, it seemed the right thing to do when he was about to meet his maker... _"E-E-Ein ... yr hwn wyt... yn-yn-yn...y nefoedd... S-S-Sancteiddier dy enw... "_

Mr Dinwiddy, however, whom had long given up the belief of a loving God existing somewhere when He allowed naked women to be burnt by dragons, couldn't cry out his pain any more as his throat was so hoarse after screaming it had all but given up, and the only sounds he could make now were faint rasps as he tried to breath, curled up on the ground as he was.

The flash had reminded Jeanie of a scene in a documentary she'd once watched about the invention of nuclear bombs, and then, when she felt a strong force pushing her backwards, she thought she was going to be blown away by a tremendous blast of wind, but it never came. Then, the cacophony of sound ceased altogether, and the pain in her chest and limbs disappeared, leaving just an ache inside her. Not knowing what she'd see if she dared to open her eyes again, she turned around before opening them, and saw that she was now standing almost on top of the old man as he writhed on the ground, shielding his face with his hat and whimpering like a kicked dog.

Realising that the bright light had gone, she glanced over to the engine, and noticed that all the flashing runes and things had faded into black marks burnt onto the bare metal. Then she heard some faint tinkling sounds coming from underneath the engine's boiler. Straining her eyes, she saw something small and dark fall onto the sleepers between the wheels, and she hobbled over to have a closer look.

Not daring to touch the engine, fearful of more pain, she slowly lowered herself onto her aching knees and looked closer at what she'd seen fall. It was a small pile of what looked like black wood shavings. Shaking her head in puzzlement, she got back up and slowly made her way over to the old man. Crazy as he was, she didn't like to see him suffering so and felt that she best help him first, but then a flash of movement from the front of the engine caught her eye and she quickly turned her head to see the tail-end of a long and thin red line streak up out of Lady's funnel and into the air where it first coalesced into a cloud and then the familiar shape of Idris.

As the dragon circled high above the engine before landing on the ground, Jeanie started to rub her hands over herself to try and dispel the pins and needles she felt all over her body, becoming irritated when they didn't go away after several moments of fierce rubbing.

Idris landed on the ground beside the engine, flexed his wings a couple of times and folded them next to his body, then he turned his head to look towards the two former engines as they both sat on the ground, Thomas and rubbing his head with his hands and James swinging his arms about around him, and said, _**# I am sorry, not-men, for I have failed to save her. I believe something is still missing.# **_

James looked over at the dragon, then cried out, _"NO! PLEASE, NOOOoooo!"_

Jeanie's mouth fell open as she heard Idris speaking, and she quickly looked over to Thomas to see his reaction to this worst possible piece of news, and saw his face take on a look of such sadness that her heart almost broke for the two former engines. She then looked sourly over at the black shavings that had fallen from the still quietly-puffing engine. From what she'd heard of Lady, she knew the engine made some sort of special gold, that "Sparkle" stuff that Sir Topham had used that time to take her to Hatt Hall, and those shavings certainly didn't look anything like gold, she thought to herself.

_"Thomas, James, I'm... I'm SO sorry for you both,"_ she said, just to say something, anything to try and console the two special friends she'd made over the past few days. _"Lady... she-she tried to make that gold stuff, but more of that shitty black stuff came out instead. I don-"_ but Thomas then turned to stare at her, and yelled, _"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY, JEANIE?"_

She gaped at Thomas, suddenly feeling destroyed inside by the sharp demand from someone she was practically grieving for and, as she felt her eyes tearing up, stammered, _"I-I-I said she tri-tried to m-m-make more of tha-that gold stuff-"_

_"THAT'S IT!"_ James then shouted, getting up awkwardly and limping over to where Thomas was now kneeling, and grabbed at his shoulders. Gently shaking his friend, he then said, _"That's it, Thomas! We need gold to save her! If we pu-"_

_"BUT WE HAVEN'T GOT ANY!"_ Thomas yelled back at him. _"WE FAILED TO SAVE HER! SHE CAN'T MAKE ANY GOLD BECAUSE WE FAILED IN OUR TASK! DON'T YOU REALISE, JAMES, WE'RE... we're NEVER GOING TO BE ENGINES EVER AGAIN!"_

James, shocked by the vehemence of his friend's reaction, stepped back in alarm and stared at him in alarm. He'd never heard his friend speak like that before, and he struggled to understand why he started to feel angry at him.

_"I-I've got gold I have,"_ he faintly heard a voice say a few feet from where Jeanie had started snuffling to herself, and he turned to look as he opened his mouth to ask the old man a confused 'What?', but he never got the chance as the weeping woman spoke first.

_"We KNOW you've got gold, you crazy fucker!"_ she snapped tearfully as she glared down at the old man. _"You've got a fucking gold mine FULL of the fucking stuff, but it's all the way back in North fucking Wales! Really, this is no time for you to start your crazy fucking babbling again, for fuck's sake!"_ and, sobbing forcibly, she ran off back towards the cave.

_"No,"_ said Mr Dinwiddy, and then he started to giggle, but with his throat only just having been under so much strain, it came out more like a death rattle. _"No,"_ he repeated, then, turning over onto his other side to face the red-coated former engine, he weakly gasped, _"I've... I've got some... gold in my sack... James. You put it... on the wagon with... with your water barrels... you did. Do you... remember? You can... use THAT if you want."_

ooo

Only a minute or so ago, back in his study at Hatt Hall after finishing a light supper, Sir Topham was taking a sip from his cup of tea whilst reading an article in the evening paper about a sudden announcement by Sodor Council of a closed meeting to discuss the feasibility of a new road-building project that would revolutionise traffic movement on the island. He was trying to make sense of what this could possibly mean for his railway, especially after the disturbing telephone conversation he'd had earlier that day with the Mayor of Sodor.

The Mayor had strongly criticised his failure to repair the faulty signalling system, commenting also that it had been reported to him that there was no sign of any work crews to be seen on the tracks. 'What in hell is going on, Sir Topham' the Mayer had asked him, to which he'd had to bluster a reply that it was more of a computer problem than structural, which was why no-one had been seen at the various signal boxes on the island. He'd also been told that many factory owners had complained about missing deliveries, and were seriously considering asking for delivery quotes from road hauliers, and would switch to road deliveries if the lack of a train service continued.

This was obviously part of Tiberius' scheme to ruin him, he thought to himself, and brought the cup he was holding to his lips for another sip, but then he started to feel his chest tighten painfully and an acute pain shoot down his legs and arms, and he feared he was in the throes of a heart attack. The arm holding the cup of tea above the paper spasmed violently, dropping the cup and splashing its remaining contents over the page he'd just been reading, his shirt sleeves and the front of his waistcoat. The pain lasted for several, agonising seconds, leaving him short of breath and gasping for air, completely unable to call for help before it finally dissipated and allowed him to breath normally again. His heart racing, he reached across his desk to the telephone to call an ambulance, but held his hand over the receiver as something in the back of his mind told him it wasn't a medical situation that had just occurred, but was something in connection with the railway magic.

Something had occurred somewhere, he knew, but he didn't have a clue as to what it was. He cocked his head as various scenarios, and hopes, ran through his mind, but not able to pin it down to anything, he figured that he'd no doubt find out soon enough if it was more trouble in store for him. He then drew his hand back and, instead of picking up the phone's receiver, he grabbed a table napkin off the tea-tray and started to mop up the spilled tea before ringing Collins to bring him some clean clothing and a fresh pot of tea.

ooo

James put the sack down onto the ground beside Lady's cab and opened it. He reached his hand inside and pulled out one, then another, and then a third, fist-sized, lump of gold, placing them in a neat row on the ground next to the now empty sack. Looking over to the old man, who, whilst he'd been inside the cave fetching the sack, had managed to sit himself up, he asked, _"What do we do with them, Mr Dinwiddy, sir?"_

_"I don't know,"_ the old man rasped, his throat still quite hoarse_. "Do YOU know, Mr Jones?"_

_"I haven't got a clue,"_ said the welshman, sitting on the edge of the engine's footplate while his aching body recovered from its recent torture.

_"I think,"_ said Thomas, _"that it might have to go inside Lady's firebox."_

_"Why do you think that, Thomas?"_ James asked him.

_"I don't know,"_ said Thomas again. _"I can't think of anything else we CAN do with it. Can you, James?"_

_"No, I can't. Do you think Jeanie will know?"_

_"Did you see her in the cave?"_ Thomas asked.

_"No, but I could hear her crying inside Toad when I went past,"_ said James. _"I thought it best not to disturb her."_

Thomas sighed loudly. It was up to him now, he thought to himself, to make a decision, but what decision could he make that would be the right one? They had three lumps of gold, but were they to use them all together or one at a time? If they used them one at a time, they'd have three chances to save Lady, but if they used them all together and it _still_ didn't save her, what could they do _then_? They'd be out of options, and _how_ do they use them? _So many decisions,_ he thought to himself, _but which one is the RIGHT one?_

Thomas sighed again, looking at the others in turn as he pondered over what to do.

_"Idris,"_ said Jones the Steam, "when you were inside her firebox, what was that noise we all heard? Was it you or Lady?"

_# It was I, Mr Jones. When I was in there in my Spirit form, I felt I had to call to the magic to draw your friend back. She tried to come, but failed when it became clear that something else was needed."_

_"What did you mean just then, Idris?"_ said James, _"when you said you were in Lady's firebox in your spirit form?"_

_**# What you saw me become is my true state, not-man.# **_ The dragon then looked back and forth between the two former engines. _**# Though your minds hear what I say as words, your spirits, your very being hears me as music, as your sick friend has often told you. It is what you feel within you when I talk to you. To hear me give voice in that form is to sing the Song of Life itself.# **_

_"But, Idris,"_ said Jones the Steam as an idea formed in his mind, _"was that why we felt so much pain, that it sounded wrong because of the missing gold?"_

_**# Yes, Mr Jones, you are right. Gold is a pure metal, and it is a part of your magical engine's magic, and it wasn't there for her when I called to her. Mr Jones... # **_ and a sudden burst of excitement rippled through the bodies of the two men and former engines as the dragon stopped speaking for a moment, _**# I think, yes, I think I know now, Mr Jones. I know what I must do to bring your friend back!# **_

_"What is it?"_ asked James, never having ever felt such happiness flow through him before.

_**# I will take the gold with me into her firebox. You must put it inside my mouth for me to carry it.# **_

_"But, Idris,"_ said Jones anxiously, _"won't they all fall out when you change form again?"_

_**# No, Mr Jones, I... # **_ then Idris paused for a moment, and if ever an animal somewhere in the world, or in this case, the dragon that the welshman and the others were currently looking at, had managed it, it was definitely to look of embarrassment that suddenly appeared on Idris' face when they heard his next words. _**# ... I have something to confess to you, Mr, Jones. Mr Dinwiddy has often told me to stop doing it, but I have to admit that I'm a bit of a show-off at times. I'm sorry, but I don't really need to change form in such a dramatic manner, I can do it just by squeezing my head into her firebox.# **_

Jones the Steam, his face turning into a scowl, stared at the dragon for several seconds then, his voice raising as he spoke, said, _**"You mean that, EVERY time I've seen you do that flying stunt before whooshing inside Ivor and back out his funnel, it was just to SHOW OFF?"**_

_**# That is right, Mr Jones,# **_ said Idris quietly, now looking down at the ground in what the others took to be shame, _**# I am sorry for fooling you so many times.# **_

_"And... and Olwen and the children,"_ Jones then spluttered, _"THEY were fooling me as well?"_

_**# Yes, and I am sorry on their behalf, Mr Jones.# **_

Jones then turned to glare at the old man still sitting on the ground. _"And YOU knew all about this, did you, Mr Dinwiddy?"_ he asked coldly.

The old man's sucked his lips in and mashed them with his teeth, his jaw bouncing up and down as his eyes widening, fearing he was about to lose his long-time friend, then, nodding his head, he said, quite boldly for someone pondering over a possible return to his life of solitude, _"Aye, that I did, Jones the Steam, that I did!"_

Jones stared silently at Mr Dinwiddy, his face reddening as it contorted into a grimace, then quivered as the short welshman strained to hold back what was trying to come out of his mouth, but he had to give up his struggle as he suddenly started to laugh very loudly.

Mr Dinwiddy watched him laugh, thanking the stars that his young friend had seen the funny side of it, and started to giggle, which soon turned into hearty laughter as he let go of his fear of loneliness. Thomas and James looked at each other and started laughing also, and soon, even Idris had started to let out a throaty growl at the human's and not not-men's reaction to his confession.

Gradually, they all began to settle down and Jones slowly shook his head, fondly remembering the many times and he'd just stared in wonder and amazement at the dragons when Idris was smaller as they played a game of chase with each other, flying at whirlwind speeds as they flew in one end of Ivor and out the other, and the little green engine giving little peeps on his brass whistles as they passed through him. He chuckled then at how Idris must have felt when he confessed his secret, and, glancing over the dragon as he sat waiting for his human friend to scold him, but Jones didn't have the heart to do such a thing, and just gave him a sad smile as he shook his head once more.

Idris, recognising the action for what it was, bowed his head in respect to his friend, accepting the friendly admonishment.

Unnoticed by Jones and the others, the background hissing of steam and gentle puffing from the engine, sounds that each of their brains had now become familiarised to and delegated to its subconscious, had stopped, and when Thomas finally realised that he couldn't hear anything, he glanced over at the engine and, alarmed, cried, _"Oh no! Her fire's gone out!"_

James ran over to Lady to check inside her firebox for what state her fire was in, letting out a wail of his own. _"THE FIRE,"_ he yelled back to the others, _"IT'S GONE! HER FIREBOX IS EMPTY! THERE'S NO COAL IN THERE, NOTHING!"_

Idris then coughed apologetically to get their attention, and, as they turned to look at him, he said, _**# I took it, not-men, when I was inside her firebox. It is safe, for she will need it when I leave her. The talk of gold has helped me to remember what my father learnt from his father many, many years ago. Put the gold inside my jaws, please, and do it now.# **_

The last of the dragon's was like a command from God Himself, Jones felt, and rushed inside the engine's cab to retrieve her shovel and quickly give it to Thomas, being as he was the nearest of the two former engines. He then placed the three lumps of gold onto the blade of the shovel that Thomas, being strong enough to hold the weight, was holding out, then watched as he raised it up in front if Idris' snout. The dragon then opened his jaws to accept it and the former engine tilted the shovel, letting the three fist-sized lumps roll off and onto his tongue, which then broadened out and curled around them to keep them in place. Idris then nodded his head once and turned towards the engine's cab, raising one foreleg up onto the footplate, then the other before pushing off the ground with his rear legs and into the cab, which was, for him, a very narrow space indeed in his current dragon form.

Jones, Thomas, James and Mr Dinwiddy then watched as the dragon appeared to shimmer as his scales started to merge together and lose their defining shape, his varied deep-red colourings becoming one homogenous shade, the shade of blood itself as the dragon's very outline also began to change, its legs and wings shortening, no, retracting into its body as it, too, morphed, moulding itself and reforming itself into a single mass of red with just the dragon's head remaining, then the head raised itself upwards, opened its jaws and started to sing one of the verses to the never-ending Song of Life...but it wasn't mere words that came out from the jaws, instead, it was a single musical note, a note of such intrinsic purity and harmony within its countless chords that, to the humans and not-men staring at the red mass and hearing it, it felt as if something had grabbed their very souls and stolen them away to a far, far away place outside of time itself before the red shape was seemingly sucked into Lady's firebox...

_"Great Darkness strikes down the Pure One. She is stricken by the Destroyer... "_

... and they saw, no, _were_ Lady herself as she succumbed to the foulness that had invaded her realm, were _puzzled_ as they tried to understand what was happening to them, were _anxious_, worried, even, as they started to cough and splutter, _felt_ her pain inside as her valves stuck shut and the pressure of her steam built up, _ached_ as stabs of pain lanced through their bodies, _wailed_ as pistons and bearings seized, _cried_ as they felt her weaken, her magic begin to fade, to dwindle away until nothing but a single spark of it was left, held tightly onto by the last of the magical engine's will power, a power determined not to fall to the darkness that awaited her...

... and they were _distracted_ by the sudden flicker of a new consciousness as it entered her collapsing realm, _saw_ themselves inside Sir Topham's study and stare in surprise at the stout man as they suddenly heard a female's voice speak in their minds and plead for help, _sensed_ the fragility and imbalance of that consciousness as she withdrew back into the safety of her last spark, be _concerned_ for that spirit's future, _knowing_ that the weakness it would forever have was because of her own need to keep and not share with it what she couldn't spare to give it, to save it lest she fall into that darkness, and _wept_ in shame at her own selfish desire to live before, finally, for the most infinitesimal of moments as her spark extinguished and she became nothing, _accepted_ that even that plea for help had been too much for her to spend and was the reason for her undoing.

_"The Pure One shall not this time take of the Birth Water, She to drink of the Mother herself. Eternal is the Well of the Mother, Eternal is the Product of Her Well... "_

... and they _flowed_ through rock, _were_ the very Earth itself as it rotated on its axis, orbiting its mother sun before, in countless years, it would be destroyed by it in an explosion of such magnitude that all the life-force it felt walking on its surface, crawling in its dirt, swimming in its waters, flying through its atmosphere, would die, _accepted_ the inevitability of it and _knew_ that its present existence was just one of the infinite cycles it would go through before the Great Darkness called Everything back into its arms before throwing it all back out into Being once more...

_"The Winged Beast, born the way of the bird but not of the bird. He that possess the Coat of Blood, Pure is his Song... "_

... and they _flew_ over the mountains far below, _felt_ the strong muscles in their chests expand and contract as they powered their large wings, pushing the air away from them as they searched for their prize, _sensed_ the tantalising tang the wind suddenly brought to their acutely sensitive nostrils as they detected the copper their prize's blood carried within its proteins to their bone marrow, bones that they would later suck that delicacy from after they had feasted upon the sacrifice the weak humans were offering to them, a young female not yet despoiled by their seed given to them as a gift in the faint hope that the mightiest and most powerful of beasts would not swoop down into their camps and steal away their young to dine upon...

... and they _anticipated_ the moment when they would be upon their prey, _rejoiced_ when their coal-black eyes located their prey, and _savoured_ the moment when their sharp teeth finally tore into the soft, unyielding female's flesh as she screamed in terror at her fate, and they _roared_ in delight as the taste of iron in the blood's haemoglobin stimulated their taste buds before spilling out from their jaws and running down their necks before being scorched into vapour by their red-hot scales...

... and they _howled_ in pain as the humans used the weapons their cunning brains helped them create to hunt after and destroy them, _feeling_ death itself as the humans thrust the sharp metal sticks into their very jaws and up into their brain...

... and they _feared_ for their very existence as they slunk away from the growing plague as it spread upon the Mother, as its villages became towns, its towns became cities, and its cities became nations until the only thing they could do to escape death or capture by the humans was to flee to the high peaks and volcanoes, places that were remote and inaccessible, places where they lived out the rest of their lives and reared their young in relative peace but forever wary of the disease that was mankind...

... and they _looked_ down upon the naked woman laying on the ground, waiting for them to vent their rage upon her, but holding back as they knew that she desired that which was forbidden to her and her kind, _growled_ in anger as men that hid their faces used the Words of Power to compel them to release their flame, to set in motion their repugnant scheme, and they felt _sorrow_ as they yielded to those Words, and _wept_...

_"He to hold within himself the Eternal Element and The Burning Rock. Sacred is He that devours, for She shall breathe the Spirit of Life anew."_

... and they _were_ Fire itself, they _were_ the epitome of destruction as their desire to exist stretched itself, searching, forever consuming everything it touched and yet searched for more, forever reaching out into the unknown and devouring all that was around them, and _they_ were one, they _were_ is and they _were_ not, and they met, and they grew, they split, grow, split, grow split, an endless cycle of creation and destruction, they were day and they were night, they were light and they were dark, they were Life and they were Death, and they were the Song of Life itself and they _were_ Eternal...

... and then each of them felt unbridled sadness when the musical note fell silent and the feeling of purity, that eternal sense of rightness that they had become left them stranded on the dusty ground of planet Earth, then a hiss of steam escaped from the engine and a female's voice, a voice that was very familiar to two of them called out... _**~Thomas! James! You've Saved Me!~**_

oooOOOooo


	25. Chapter 25

Author's note:

For existing readers: I thought I'd dropped a clanger in Chapter 23, but on checking, I realised that I hadn't, though I did bugger up one scene. It doesn't affect the outcome of Chapter 24, however, so, just to square things off for current readers, I'll include it here before this next chapter starts. For new readers that have reached this point, you've already read it and can ignore it.

Missing scene:

Jones powered more steam into Ivor's pistons and the little green engine gave a mighty push to the wagons in front of him. _"Come on, my old friend,"_ the welsh driver said encouragingly, _"You can do it!"_

It had been easy for the little engine earlier, as the old tunnel had a slight downward gradient, and it hadn't taken much of an effort for Ivor to set the procession going. Now, though, they were on a flat length of track, and with the weight of the large blue engine further downline, it was harder for him.

_"prrp!"_ replied Ivor softly, not wanting to deafen his friend in the tunnel.

_"Well done, Ivor!"_ said Jones as he felt the wagons in front give a little. _"One more go, but only a few yards, mind you. We don't want to shunt into Lady!"_ then, after a series of loud clanking of buffers, the procession started to roll slowly forward.

"Pshhhht-tehkooff-Pshhhhtehkooff-..."

_"YES,"_ cried Jones, "y_ou did it, Ivor! Well done! Now, listen carefully for James' shout to stop!"_

A few seconds passed as they slowly rolled forward and then Jones heard the former engine's shout. He applied Ivor's brakes and the little engine "Ssssssssshed" to a stop.

Once the procession of wagons came to a halt just three feet away from Lady's rear buffers, James walked past Edward and secured the brake van's handbrake with Burnett Stone's shunting pole. _"Okay, Mr Jones, all secure this end,"_ he called out.

Edward was surprised when he'd heard Thomas' earlier cries to the magical engine, and had been very disappointed when there was no reply from her. _She must be completely gone,_ he thought to himself, _or she can't hear him in his human form. Maybe if _I_ try_..."

_**~Lady, it's Edward. Can you hear me?~**_, but not even _he_ got a reply. Yes, it was great, he thought, that they'd managed to arrive in her cave, but his breakdown earlier that day was still casting a gloom over him. Being so far away from North Wales, he then realised, there would be no way for the replacement coupling rod to get to him. Glumly, he settled back down, and hoped that Thomas, James and the others could manage to save her, or they'd all be stuck there for evermore.

_"Don't worry, old friend,"_ said James as he saw the disappointed look on Edward's face, _"we'll do our best to save her."_

ooo

And now, on with the story...

Chapter 25

Ivor knew what his driver friend Jones the Steam was doing with the two no-longer engines, and he hoped they'd succeed. Currently, he was having a very interesting chat with the blue tender engine, using his three brass pipes to let out barely-audible notes bordering on the almost sub-sonic level so that the others in the cave outside the tunnel he was in couldn't hear him. The blue tender-engine, Edward, had, though, and had obviously sensed the need for privacy in his own response, and so, after telling him of the trick he'd played on Mrs Griffiths, the Chairwoman of the local Antiquarian Society, by pretending not to be able to speak, he told the blue engine of what was on his mind.

Whenever he met another engine for the very first time, he always wondered why they would look strangely at him when he greeted them. He knew they could tell he was a very old engine and, sometimes, one of them would ask him why he didn't have a face like all the other engines. His reply had always the same: just a simple "Prppp!" He'd never had a face, he'd tell them, and that he'd always got along with everyone as he didn't need one to talk to other engines as long as he had his whistle, thank you very much. Gladys, the old railcar that he'd often meet on his travels, had a face, but her driver did something to her to stop her projection it. He'd asked Jones the Steam why he rarely saw it, and been told about something called a control key, and that her driver used it to stop her continual moaning, Jones the Steam had said. Though he wished for one, Ivor was glad in a way that he didn't have a face, as he couldn't bear the thought that his friend Jones the Steam might use it on him.

When he was created, he could only speak through his small whistle, but he'd lost it once, and it was his driver friend who had got him the three brass organ pipes he now proudly carried on his cab. He'd found since getting them that everyone could understand him much better than when he had the whistle, and when he used two or three of the pipes together whenever he spoke, he'd often been told that it was as though he could feel things like a person, depending on the quality of the chord his notes were blown in, and as though he had emotions, they'd even say. He always felt something go cold inside him whenever he heard them say that, though, after all, didn't they _know_ he'd _always_ had feelings and that it was because he'd never been given the chance to express them before now. He'd just asked Edward the question that was forever on his mind when the blue engine became distracted by a couple of whistle blasts from the now-fired up engine, and had lost interest in their talk. He sighed sadly, letting out a hiss of steam in frustration, and hoped that, soon, the one he knew who did have the answer to his question would be back with them.

ooo

Edward was feeling somewhat troubled over what the little green engine had just been telling him, and he was also curious over the need for secrecy as they talked, but when he heard the welsh engine driver say that they were ready and Lady's whistle give a couple of light toots, his eyes widened in surprise. _ SHE'S BACK,_ he thought excitedly, but when he then failed to sense the connection he longed to feel once more, the one that happened whenever she came over to Sodor to visit him and his friends before all this mess happened, he became despondent again as he realised that it was just the short driver pulling on her whistle cord.

While he and Ivor had been talking, he'd watched his two friends and the short driver work to bring Lady up to steam, and the sense of relief and hope he felt that they were actually here and saving the magical engine, despite his silly mistake in not telling anyone about the twinges he'd been having, was most welcome. The thoughts that had plagued him of what Sir Topham and the others would all say to him if they ever did manage to get back to Sodor again had been making him feel quite sick inside his boiler. His firebox had been damped down after his coupling rod snapped and he was barely making any steam at all now, but he still felt as though the water inside his boiler was churning round and round and wanted to blow itself out through his funnel.

He was really, really hoping that this would all work out and end well for them when he heard two more, louder, blasts, and as he saw the engine lurch forward before smoothly rolling out towards the awaiting sunshine, all he could think of was, _pleasepleasepleaseletthiswork!,_ his earlier pondering over what the little green engine had asked him already forgotten.

ooo

Ivor heard the songful note and knew straight away who and where it was coming from. The first attempt to save the magical engine, judging from the most horrible vibration that had tipped over Edwin's teapot in the little box he kept it in, had failed. This time, he knew, it'll work.

It started with his inner workings beginning to vibrate in harmony with the note's timbre, and he felt contentment when the power within that note took full hold of him. He'd felt something similar many times before when Idris was smaller and used to "hitch" a ride in his firebox to have a nap in, and when he'd take on his spirit form and pass through his cover sheet and into his boiler tubes and all the way through until popping back out again of his funnel in his dragon form so as not to give his secret away. Neither his long-time friend Edwin nor Mr Dinwiddy knew the dragon had _that_ particular ability, only himself, he thought with contentment as the song reached its full extent and opened up his mind to the full beauty of life that his lack of eyes stopped him from seeing a mere glimpse of...

...and then he saw his life, and he learnt then of his creation, and then he learnt of his fate, and he understood and he knew, but before the reason for it all became apparent, something else was made known to him and he found that he had just one question to ask her when she returned anew, once his Edwin came back and drove him out into the open air, that was.

There were some things shown to him, the little green engine learnt, that had to be kept secret from his two human friends, and he didn't consider it wrong. Instead, he felt grateful that they weren't yet aware of the most terrible thing that had taken place decades ago, and he hoped they would never find out about that, for it would destroy them. He already knew that Mr Dinwiddy had seen the beginning of the ritual to create the magical engine when he was a small boy, and fortunately for his young, already-traumatised mind, had fled before its completion. Since seeing him again at Llaniog Station and introducing himself, he'd watched the young boy as he struggled against madness and trying to come to terms with the events of that day, struggling so hard against it that he never got to complete a whole week in school, and then as he struggled as a young teenager failing to serve his time as an apprentice blacksmith, and he watched him as he later struggled as a young man fleeing to the mountains to begin a life of solitude and loneliness, and then now, even as an old man, still struggle. The little green engine spared a moment, though, to think of the other one only now beginning her struggle against insanity and madness, and hoped she'd not suffer the loneliness the old gold miner was well-accustomed to but never complained about.

ooo

Edward felt every bit of himself start to tingle, right from the steel plates that made up his boiler and cab and down to the smallest screw holding two bits of him together, and he knew he was going somewhere wonderful and hoped never to reach the buffers at the end of that particular track. Just as he settled himself to be swept along on this most pleasurable of rides, though, he felt something tickle his mind. It was a connection of some sort, a connection with something, someone and it was the complete opposite feeling to that awful thumping he'd not long ago felt in his mind, as though someone or something was knocking on his dome to get in, but now, it felt as though he was being diverted to a side line in an emergency as he realised just what that connection was... _**~LADY!~**_ he peeped. _**~I CAN FEEL YOU AGAIN!~**_ and all his fears over what Sir Topham would say to him vanished, never to worry him ever again.

ooo

The coal wagon knew he wasn't amongst his usual rack as he had sensed the unfamiliarity of the drop-sider that was now in front of him, but the familiarity of the green-puller-now-pusher behind him had settled his anxiety. He knew his wheels hadn't been on these rails before, but, he hoped, maybe they'd be on familiar rails again sometime soon, and so he waited patiently and content, but just then, he felt something happen to him, and he wondered what it was... then he knew, and settled back down again. This new presence was one that cared for him and would look after him while he was in its domain.

ooo

The drop-side wagon, despite the missing connection he'd once had with something very powerful that watched over him to make sure he did his job right, was feeling content that he'd been chosen once more to do work. He'd just been on a long journey and his wheels had gone round and round for a very long time and nothing had gone wrong with him and so he was content. He was also content that he'd had a special load to carry and that he had done it well. He was also content that he wasn't being biffed and bashed by the red-puller monster that sometimes pulled him along. He was content that the blue-puller didn't treat him like that, and also with the smaller green-puller-now-pusher because he hadn't been biffing and bashing him, either. Because of all that, he hadn't once felt the need to seize his wheel bearings in order to stop them biffing and bashing him and teach them a lesson. Now, though, he simply waited patient and content until they were moving again and his wheels could again go round and round and round and round, but his waiting was interrupted by that very powerful presence that watched over him to make sure he did his job right came back again, and he was content once more as he waited patiently for his wheels to start turning round and round.

ooo

Toad the Brake Van, despite the missing connection he'd once felt with something very powerful that watched over him to make sure he did his job right, was feeling content that he had his passenger back inside him, even though he could sense that she was very upset over something, but he did feel a measure of relief that it was nothing to do with him, not that he could do anything about it even if it _was_ his fault she was leaking water out of her head, and so he simply waited until he was moved again. Then, he felt that very powerful presence that watched over him to make sure he did his job right came back again, and resumed his patient waiting.

ooo

Inside the brake van, Jeanie wanted to die as she sobbed into her pillow. The way she'd talked to the old man like that had absolutely disgusted her, and she'd _never_ imagined herself as speaking to someone like that before. She raised an arm and slammed her fist into the pillow, letting out a wail as, once again and for the umpteenth time, the incident played over in her mind...

_She was telling Thomas of the black stuff she saw fall from the engine, and she felt the confusion and heartache inside her as the former engine, the one she had gotten to know well and had seen as a genuine friend, the one she'd miss the most if they all eventually became trains again, shouted angrily at her... her trying to explain herself to him... James getting excited as he realises just what they need to save the engine and Thomas getting angry at his friend over their lack of gold... feeling her chest seem to collapse inwards as she looked on at her two distraught friends arguing with each other, and crying inside for the despair they must be feeling with their failure and for the magical friend they had lost... hearing the old man groaning in pain, his throat rasping hoarsely after his own agonised screams, then him telling them all that he has gold, and then she thinking him a crazy, rambling, self-centred old fool for thinking of himself when the two former engines were in so much trouble... _

_Her own despair at their failure to save the magical engine, her feeling sad for her two friends, feeling angry at Thomas... remembering the claustrophobic panic she'd been feeling inside all those fucking tunnels, and her fears that they'd never ever get back out again to see daylight, her fear of never seeing her family again and her feeling of loss, and the guilt she felt over believing that her sister was somehow behind all this mess and the fucking confusion in her mind that was driving her to even more despair with its continual back and fore of conflicting thoughts as the one-sided railway magic battled for control... her increasing depression as one setback happened after another. _

_Her bewilderment when she first found herself in this new world, her fear of dying when the fucking dragon dived down towards her and her peeing herself in panic at the thought of the creature's sharp teeth ripping into her neck and biting her head off and the pain she would feel when that happened... the times she believed herself going crazy whenever the creature's own magic affected her, and the shame she felt afterwards after hearing herself say those abhorable things to people she considered her friends, and her growing fear of losing control with their increased frequency. _

_The gutting feeling she had felt when the protection the dragon gave her didn't stop her from falling under the spell of the railway magic, and her acceptance of self-death as it finally gained control over her mind... then the feeling of grief for herself when she gave up all hope of ever being rid of the nightmare she was in and couldn't find a way out of... the realisation that she herself was the fool who had allowed all this to happen to her, and then when she snapped... _

_... and ripped into the self-centred old man laying on the ground, hunched over onto his side and wishing for death and eternal peace from his own mental pain... insulting him in the most foul manner and raging at him, putting into her rage all of her own fears, her dashed hopes, anxieties, feelings of panic and embarrassment... and glaring at the old man as he lay there, silent after the lashing he just received from her and after everything she'd just shat upon him, and watching him turn his head slowly to look at her and smile gently at her. Staring into his eyes and seeing recognition in them, and humble acceptance of what she'd just done... and then her becoming aware of what she'd just done, her knowing it and her accepting it... the old man seeing her understand with his own eyes, his smile growing bigger before giving her a couple of slow nods of his head as he gazed back at her, silently telling her that he knew exactly why she had just done as she had and that he understood everything, and then the shame that ripped into her for what she'd just done to him in front of the very people she thought of as friends and had wanted to help, and the feeling of her heart being torn out with the immensity of it and... and then running away to try and hide from what she'd done, denying that she could have ever done such a terrible, heartless thing, no, not her, not Jeanie Watkins! _

_... and as she ran, trying to find some place to hide before that memory could start yet another repeat and to force upon her every pain-ridden emotion of that cruel act, Jeanie felt herself fall, run and fall at the same time into a sound that was calling her name in such a beautiful way... _

_"Great Darkness strikes down the Pure One. She is stricken by the Destroyer... "_

_... and she saw the planet she lived on and she saw its creation, its gathering and its formation, and she saw the life upon and within it as its life-blood, the Earth's Life-Spirit itself, flow through them all, connecting them... a force, a strength, a power that filled her very bones with its mellowness, its peacefulness and its beauty, and she saw things and she heard things, sounds that were so rich in colour she'd run out of names for them after just the first few dozen, saw things that spoke to her of their creation and very being, even their death, and she watched herself ... _

_"The Pure One shall not this time take of the Birth Water, She to drink of the Mother herself. Eternal is the Well of the Mother, Eternal is the Product of Her Well... "_

_... fall into tales of folklore, magic and fantastical things she knew from childhood, and then she herself was a child again, a child that was old and growing into infirmity, yet still young, and with every timeless moment she heard herself sing, not with mere words, but with a single note that contained all that there was and... _

_"The Winged Beast, born the way of the bird but not of the bird. He that possess the Coat of Blood, Pure is his Song... "_

_... she felt all of her shame and despair cast itself from her as light shone from within her, bursting out into the heavens and then, for the most briefest of moments, she saw her own life from conception to birth to growth to death, and she knew it was all just one mere tick in the clock of infinty, and she thought... _

_"He to hold within himself the Eternal Element and The Burning Rock. Sacred is He that devours, for She shall breathe the Spirit of Life anew."_

... she heard someone demand her presence and she was sad for having to leave this most beautiful of moments, so she got up off of her bunk, wiped away the tears of joy she'd just been crying and stepped out of the brake van and down to the floor of the cave. There was someone outside she knew she had to meet, the one who had sung that song to her, and for the first time in several days, sincere, genuine hope ran through heart as she walked towards the light.

ooo

Sir Topham finished buttoning up his fresh shirt and picked up the clean waistcoat his butler had thought to bring for him and, turning to face the man, he said, _"Thank you, Collins, that will be all for tonight, and... a very good night to you."_

He was still feeling troubled over whatever portentous meaning the magical backlash he'd not long ago received implied, and decided not to put on the waistcoat, instead, laying it over the back of his chair.

_"Thank you, Sir Topham,"_ replied Collins, _"and a very good night to you, Sir,"_ and wheeled his tea trolley laden with a pot of cold tea, an empty cup and saucer, and a tea-stained waistcoat and shirt out of his employer's study, pulling the door closed behind him.

Once the study door clicked shut, Sir Topham returned to his desk and carefully peeled off the damp newspaper to dispose of it in his waste basket. He knew he wouldn't need to read the article again to know that there was another dark cloud looming on his horizon. Sitting down in his chair, he reached to his cup of fresh tea and picked it up to take a sip, then, a shudder ran down his back and shoulders, _"Oh, God, please not again,"_ he muttered, and steadied his trembling cup-holding hand with his other one, but after a few seconds he felt right again. Passing it off as an after-effect of his earlier magical attack, and as he brought his cup the rest of the way to his lips, he realised that he wasn't feeling so daunted by all his on-going problems for some reason, then he also realised that he was smiling, but couldn't figure out why.

ooo

_"LADY,"_ said Thomas excitedly as he ran to stand in front of the engine, _"wevebroughtsomefriends-"_

_**~Slow down, Thomas,~**_ said Lady._**~You're getting over-excited. Calm down and start again, will you, please?~**_

_"I'msorryLady,"_ Thomas gushed, _"butitsgreatthatyourebackandwevebrought-"_

_**~THOMAS! STOP! Let James speak while you calm down. You can take it in turns, yes?~**_

_"S-s-sorry, Lady. Of... of course,"_ Thomas said unrepentantly, brimming with excitement that his magical friend was back again.

_"LADY!"_ cried James with a look of absolute delight on his face. _"Welcome back!"_

_**~Thank you, James,~**_ said Lady. _**~I... I thought it was the end for me. Seeing you all here, how... how long was I actually gone for?~**_

_"You were gone for almost a whole week, Lady!"_ exclaimed Thomas, still excited but feeling a bit more calm. _"I... WE woke up as people on Friday morning and... and it's... yes, it's Tuesday now!"_

_**~It... It didn't feel that long, Thomas,~**_ said Lady, her large, round eyes looking tenderly at him. _**~It's... it's taking me a little while to tie my magic into the ley lines again. I thought I was going to die for ever when I felt myself fall into the darkness and... and after everything went all black around me I... I couldn't feel anything at all, but then after a while I suddenly heard the most beautiful sound I've ever heard and I... I sensed someone calling me and so I followed that voice and then... then it felt as though I was being pulled from everywhere all at once and ... and then there was a mighty tug as if I was being yanked sharply along by a really powerful shunting engine and then... then I was here again, and... and then I sensed you and James near me.~**_

_"That was Idris, Lady,"_ said James, still smiling blissfully at the magical engine. _"We heard him start singing and... I don't know what happened to us then but it was like having a very strange dream. He must have called you with his voice and then you came back to us."_

_**~Yes,~**_ said Lady, smiling happily as she turned her eyes to gaze at him, _**~yes, he did. I can feel his magic blending with my own right now to keep me stable while I reconnect with the land,~**_ but then her eyes just stared into the distance for a couple of seconds, and just as the two former engines began to worry there may still be something wrong with her, she said, _**~Thank you for telling me that, Idris.~**_

Then, looking to both the former engines, she said, _**~Idris has just told me about what happened to you on your way here. It seems you've all had quite an adventure, haven't you? He also tells me of someone I really have to speak to, but I have to speak to your new friend, Mr Jones, first, so if you will excuse me for a moment?~**_

_"Yes, certainly, Lady,"_ said James, looking to where the short driver was standing nearby and gazing in wonder at the engine.

_"Of course,"_ said Thomas, nodding his head and also looking over to the welshman. _"Mr Jones,"_ he said, then, _"Lady would like to speak with you."_

_"Me?"_ Jones the Steam asked the former engine with surprise. _"Um... yes, yes indeed. Right away,"_ and he stepped over to stand next to Thomas and look with yet more fascination at the youthful and most feminine face he'd seen for a long time, albeit with skin that was a light shade of grey.

_**~Mr Jones,~**_ said Lady, _**~I must thank you so very much for helping Thomas and James to save me. They'd never have been able to get here it if it wasn't for you and your wonderful engine.~**_

_"It was... um, a pleasure... er, Lady,"_ Jones replied, looking and feeling quite humble. _"I'm very much honoured to meet you I am, and, I'm sure, will be Ivor when he meets you."_

Despite the day's earlier peril of being trapped in the old tunnel and his misery at the thought of possibly never seeing his wife again, now, it had become the most wonderful day he'd had since first meeting the little green engine that could talk to him, and he couldn't help feeling rather lost as he struggled to think of something appropriate to say to such a wondrous engine, but when the engine's large, round eyes looked directly at him, his nervousness seemed to vanish and all he could think of was how charmed he felt when she started speaking to him again...

_**~It is a pleasure to meet you, Mr Jones, and I believe that, soon, I am the one who will be feeling honoured. You see, when I found myself back here, as well as the connection I felt with Thomas and James, I felt one that was different to what I'm... I've been used to, one I haven't felt for a very, very long time and I... I didn't think it could be possible, but your friend Idris has just confirmed it for me. Mr Jones, I would very much so like to meet Ivor the engine.~**_

Jones the Steam felt so proud right then that his friend seemed to be so important to the magical one he was standing in front of and talking to that he pulled his shoulders back, stuck his chest out and grinned broadly, then he remembered what his other friend, Mr Dinwiddy, had said earlier of seeing Ivor taking this one into the old tunnel, and he vigorously nodded his head. _"Yes, Lady, I'll go and get him for you straight away I will,"_ he said eagerly, and made to return to the cave, but then paused and looked back to say, _"Oh, you'll no doubt want to see Edward as well. I think he'll be quite excited to see that you're back."_

Lady smiled. Idris had told her that Edward was still inside the cave, and she was really looking forward to seeing him again, and happy for him that he'd been off the island when the others had been affected. Over the decades since being created, she'd come to love all the engines she'd had domain over, and she enjoyed meeting the first of the new breed of diesel and electrical engines whenever they came under her influence, well, all except one, of course, the one that had almost killed her several years ago. He'd always been different to the others, that one, and she had sensed some sort of malignance in him, and driving his actions, as though even after his exec-, but she immediately curtailed that line of thought, hoping that the dragon spirit inside her hadn't picked up on it. She was thankful for being brought back, though, and that was what she focused her mind on whilst she waited to meet the two engines still waiting inside her cave. One of them she wanted to thank, and one she owed an apology to.

ooo

Outside the cave, Lady was listening to Jones the Steam as he regaled her with stories of the things he and Ivor had been getting up to, and she chuckled with pleasure as he told her of the engine being part of their local choir, but she had to stop when she sensed a presence approaching her, the very same presence she'd sensed just before her fall into the dark. She'd been wondering where that troubled young spirit had gone to, but then the question became moot as the woman stepped in front of her and asked in a low and throaty voice, _"Can you hear me, Lady? Are you in there? Please, before it's too late, Lady, I need you to stop me from going insane... and welcome back, by the way."_

Jeanie gazed imploringly at the front of the magical engine. All she could see was the black front of its smokebox. Her eyes moved from its door handle to its hinges, and traced the door's round outline all the way round as she waited for the engine to answer her, wondering if she ought to have sent some mental thought or something to it, but just then, the black front began to fade into a light grey and then lumps began to morph out from it, just as though a sheet of grey polythene was being pressed over someone's face. The face then began to take more form as first, a nose pushed outwards, then a chin and a mouth, a mouth with very feminine lips, then a forehead, two cheeks and then two, large, round eyes began to form. They were the two most loveliest eyes Jeanie had ever seen, and she felt stuck, completely unable to move as the magical engine's full face took form before her entranced gaze, then she felt as though her mind was being sucked into those two large eyes staring back at her and, for some reason she couldn't understand, it felt right, and she hoped with all her heart that the magical engine could actually help her, after all, that's what the dragon had told her.

Lady studied the young woman and the magic she could feel emanating from her, and could sense its wrongness. It was far too polarised to be of any use for someone connected to the magical railway, and its "scent" was most definitely that of the Hatt bloodline.

_**~Hello, Jeanie Watkins,~**_ she said to the young woman, _**~and I thank you very, very much for helping to save me. I don't believe Thomas and James, nor any of the others, even Idris and Ivor, would be here to save me without your contribution. Thank you, so, so very much, but I sense ancient fire magic within you. However did you come by that, Jeanie Watkins?~**_ The magical engine paused for a moment, then spoke again. _**~Ah, I see now, Idris just told me that he helped you to shield yourself from him.~**_

Jeanie, entranced by the soft, lilting gentleness of the engine's voice as it flowed through her mind, could feel part of herself yearn for physical contact with the engine, her reasoning ability, at least what was left of it, asked her why on earth would she want to do something like that, but then she felt another voice, no, sensation that practically demanded she show obesience to the magical engine. She shook her head, muttering to herself, _"No, no, no, I'm not giving in like that again, no fucking way I'm not!"_, and this time, she swore deliberately, reinforcing her belief in herself. _"Lady, if you..."_ she started, pausing slightly to collect her thoughts together, _"if you CAN help me, Lady, will I still need to wear it?"_

_**~Tell me, Miss Watkins,~**_ said Lady, _**~how did you come to be connected to the magical railway?~**_

Jeanie sighed. _"I... was going to my sister's house and this old man stopped my car. He told me there'd been an train accident and asked me for help, so I followed him and... well, he told me all about the talking trains and stuff but I thought he'd escaped from the loony bin or something."_

_**~What was his name, Miss Watkins?~**_

_"Toby,"_ replied Jeanie, _"and he said he used to be a train... a tramcar. Anyway, I was taking him, Henrietta and Mr Stone to the hospital when Mr Stone collapsed and we called an-"_

_**~BURNETT?~**_ Lady cried out, then, cutting off Jeanie's explanation, _**~HOW IS HE? Please tell me, Miss Watkins.~**_

_"I... I'm not sure,"_ mumbled Jeanie. _"We left on our trip to get stuff to save you the day after it happened. I... I think he's all right from what Sir Topham said."_

_**~Was it Sir Topham who introduced to the railway, Miss Watkins?~**_ Lady could see by the haggard look on the young woman's face that she wasn't well, and knew from when she herself had asked the woman for help that her concern and fears for her was justified.

_"Yeah... yes. He... he gave a job."_

_**~And then I spoke to you.~**_

_"Yeah... yes. I was in his study and I heard you speaking to me in my mind and you showed me what you looked like."_

_**~And then I fell into the darkness.~**_ the magical engine said quietly as though to herself.

What Lady _didn't_ say to the young woman was that it was _her_ entry into the magical domain that took the last of her failing strength. Without that entry, and then her own decision to ask that spirit for help, she _may_ not have had to give in to the darkness so easily, and _maybe_ could have held on just long enough to stay alive. It was a bit of a stretch, she mused, to say that her fall into the darkness was actually due to the chain of events that followed this young woman's agreement to help Toby, and she didn't think it would help the woman in any way if she ever found out about _that_ particular thought, and realised that all her suffering was through her own actions that day.

_**~I can give you some of MY magic, Miss Watkins,~**_ she said, _**~to counterbalance that of Sir Topham's, but it is too late now for them to blend together correctly.~**_

_"Wha-what does that mean?"_ asked Jeanie, fearing that another magical force in her mind would be the last straw that sent her bat-shit crazy like the old man, then she felt a bit guilty-sick at how she still thought of him, and grimaced. _"Will... will I still go mad?"_ she asked worriedly.

Lady asked Idris of his thoughts on the matter and if they were the same as what she considered could happen, at the same time looking kindly at the young woman standing in front of her. She felt so sorry for her, sorry for the woman who only wanted to help an old man and was now herself in need of help.

Finally, after a several seconds, which, to Jeanie, seemed more like ten minutes, Lady smiled at her and said, _**~We don't think so. What we do believe, however, is that instead of merging, the two magical aspects will bind together and leave your own mind alone.~**_

Jeanie thought about what that could possibly mean for her, and could think of nothing except picture a sort of lumpy Yin-Yang shape inside her head like two doughnuts wrapping themselves around each other. _"Will they... try to control me?"_ she asked, imagining the two aspects or whatever the things that the magical engine had referred to sending out tentacle-like fingers to drag her own mind into some sort of group huddle.

_**~No, they won't, Miss Watkins... Jeanie. When someone is introduced to the magical railway for the first time, it's done when Sir Topham and I are both connected, and the two aspects are already balanced. They then blend with that person's mind and allows them to recognise the engines' sentience and to communicate with them without harm. This didn't happen when Sir Topham introduced you for I was already too weak to maintain my connection with him.~**_

_"YOU MEAN..."_ snapped Jeanie, _"THAT IT WAS ALL HIS FAULT I'M LIKE THIS?"_

_**~NO, IT WASN'T HIS FAULT, JEANIE!~**_ stressed Lady, then, in her usual gentle tone, said, _**~I don't think he was aware that our connection had fallen. His mind was most likely on other things when he introduced you.~**_

_"Oh,"_ said Jeanie apologetically, fighting against whatever it was holding her motionless to look down at the ground. _"I-I'm sorry, Lady,"_ she continued. _"I... I didn't think. I... I don't know much about all this sort of stuff. I'm sorry."_

_**~It's all right, Jeanie, I understand,~**_ the engine told her softly. _**~What it does mean for you, though, is that you won't have the same sort of connection to the magical railway as the other railway staff do.~**_

_"What does that mean,"_ asked Jeanie, her head snapping upwards as though on elastic, and stared at those large eyes so open with honesty.

_**~You can see and speak to me now because I am allowing it,~**_ said Lady, _**~but until I share my magic with you, you won't be able to speak to the other engines. When you do have it, if you so choose to, for I am willing to share it with you, I will, however, be compelled to give it to you as a conditional gift.~**_

_"What?"_ shrieked Jeanie_. "You mean, I have to DO things for you, like... like some sort of servant or slave?"_

_**~No, Jeanie, nothing like that, all I will need is for you to promise me that you will keep knowledge of the magical railway to yourself. When the two aspects meet in your mind, there is a chance that the confidentiality clause you signed agreement to when you accepted your job will be removed, and because your own mind is already aware of the magical railway, your memory of it will be all that's needed for you to communicate with the engines and to see them.~**_

_"So, will I still have to work for Sir Topham, then?" _

_**~Only if you choose to, Jeanie, then yes, you can. If, however, you decide to resign your job, you would still be able to see the railway magic, and it is on that promise that you keep it a secret and not tell anyone unconnected to the magical railways that I will share my magic with you. Do you understand that, Jeanie?~**_

Jeanie tried to think. The last thing she wanted right then was to stay connected to the railway, especially after her shameful exhibition a short while ago, and she glanced nervously over to where Thomas and James were standing next to each other, realising at the same time that she didn't have to force her head to move, but she didn't about that, what she was thinking about was what her "friends" thought of her, and searched first, Thomas' face, and then James' for the signs of disapproval she was expecting, but instead of condemnation from them both, they were smiling at her. Thomas was even nodding encouragingly to her, and James' smile seemed to be growing larger. _But... I'd have thought they would hate me after what I did._

She then looked over to Edwin Jones, the one from whom she most expected to see a look of betrayal, but he was smiling at her as well. Mr Dinwiddy didn't look to her at all, though, as he had his gaze fixed on the face of the magical engine, staring at it with a wild, amazed expression and smiling like a fool, and she frowned at her prejudiced thought about the old man on realising that he was simply smiling in awe at the engine.

She felt confused by their reactions to her, for instead of the rejection she was expecting, it looked as though they were all still friendly towards her, except for the old man, she thought to herself, seeing as he hadn't been looking at her, and she looked back down to the ground as she thought more about it, and about when, no, if they got back to Sodor, what then? Would she want to stay a part of something that had all but killed her? She'd enjoyed being part of it all when she started her job and dealt with the former engines with their innocent questions. To her, they'd seemed like children asking about the adult world, and with herself being part of that adult world not far removed from childhood, she'd found it easy to relate to them and to answer their questions, and part of her still wanted to do that.

They'd asked her about almost anything, from how to use the coins from petty cash that Sir Topham had given them to use in snack machine on the station platform, to how they should address real people if they came into the station, and even asking about the strange feelings they were having inside them, which turned out to be their bodies' craving for food and water. When the former railcar, Daisy, had been crying in the toilet after being attacked, it was then that she'd first realised the pleasure she was getting from helping them adjust to their new world. _But what about if Lady can change them all back into trains?_ she asked herself. _Would they need me to be around them all then? Would Sir Topham still have a job for her? _She wasn't quite sure with how she felt about him right then, after all, it was him offering her that job in the first place that had got her into this mess. _What else could I do there? I know fuck all about railways anyway,_ she told herself, _and he'll probably just give me that notice he was on about... but I'll still be able to remember all of this anyway from what Lady just said. Maybe when I see an engine passing me, I could say hello to him, it, whatever without letting anyone else see me. I could keep it all secret that way, I'm sure of it. What'll happen to me if I DID tell someone? Will the magic stop me, or will it kill me? Fuck, I don't know what to do!_

_Fuck, I wish I hadn't stopped that day. I wouldn't be here, then, and they'd have to save Lady by themselves... but if Burnett Stone couldn't get to the hospital in time, he might have died, and Sir Topham wouldn't have been at the hospital then 'cos Burnett wasn't there and I wouldn't be there to see him blow that whistle and end up in all THIS fucking shit. Lady wouldn't ask me to help her 'cos I wouldn't have had that job and she'd probably have died anyway if she was THAT weak, and Sir Topham would still have had that meeting with the others and probably worked out what the translation meant by themselves. They didn't really need ME for that, no for any of the other stuff in that box he said Burnett told him he had to open. Hang on a minute... if Burnett couldn't tell him about the box if he died before getting to hospital, how would he know he had to open it? He'd HAVE to be alive to tell him, and the only way he'd still be alive is if I called that ambulance for him, and I only ended up doing THAT because I stopped for Toby! Fuck! It's probably because of me stopping and helping that they managed to save her now! Fuck! That makes me some sort of lucky coincidence for them. Has anyone thought about all this like that?_

Lady became nervous as she saw a look of startled realisation appear on the young woman's face. She'd seen that the woman was thinking of something, probably her options, she told herself, but then, when it became apparent that her thoughts had connected to something really significant, she hoped with all her heart that it wasn't what she herself had not long been thinking, and she really didn't want to see the young woman destroy herself with guilt if that thought was what she feared it to be, and then the young woman raised her head up to say something to her...

_"What'll happen to me if I did tell someone about the talking trains?"_

_**~The magic will try to stop you,~**_ said Lady, _**~and the intent to reveal your knowledge would force a magical backlash. I don't know how severe it would be, Jeanie, so I would suggest you don't try.~**_

Jeanie nodded her head. _"I thought it might be something like that."_ She then paused for a few moments, mulling things over in her mind before speaking again.

_"I... I think I'll accept your offer, Lady. I'll give it a try for a bit and see how it goes, if that's all right with you. If you manage to get us all back to Sodor, that is, and change them all back into trains again. Maybe Sir Topham will find something else for me to do, then. I... I think I'll miss being around them, anyway, if I finished, and I promise, if I do end up having to finish working there, I won't tell anyone else about the magical railways, cross my heart, hope to die,"_ finished Jeanie, shaking her head from side to side as she made an 'X' over her heart with her index finger.

_**~Thank you, Jeanie,~**_ said Lady, relief flowing through her that her fear hadn't come to pass, at least, not right then. Later, maybe, she didn't know, and hoped never to find out. _**~We'll have to all go to Shining Time Station in order to get you all back to Sodor, though. There's a portal inside the office there that I can use with a little help from Idris. He'll have to stay inside me until we get to Sodor as I'll need his strength to take us all through, so, Jeanie Watkins, I will share my magic with you after we have arrived on Sodor and I am able to make Sparkle under my own power again. Is that all right with you, Jeanie?~**_

_"Yeah, yes, I can wait till then, I think,"_ said Jeanie, knowing now that she could keep herself anchored to something positive like the thought of getting back home again, she should be able to cope with it all. _"Er, how long will that take, exactly?"_ she asked.

_**~It'll take us about fifteen minutes to get to Shining Time, but I want to meet Edward and Ivor before we set off. Mr Jones...,~**_ Lady then called over, _**~would you be so kind as to bring our mutual friends outside for me to greet them both?~**_

_"Yes, of... of course, Lady,"_ Jones the Steam said eagerly, still captivated by the experience of meeting the magical engine. _"James, Thomas, would one of you give me a hand, please?"_

_"I'll help you, Mr Jones,"_ said James, stepping forward. _"I'm sure Edward's almost bursting his boiler with impatience to see Lady again!"_

Thomas, meanwhile, was walking over to where Jeanie was standing in front of Lady, and as he reached her, he put an arm gently across her shoulders and guided her over to one side.

_"Mr Jones told me about your problems,"_ he said gently, and only just loud enough for her to hear above Lady's gentle hissing of escaping steam. _"He said that you've been having difficulty coping with Sir Topham's magic, and I want to tell you that we are still your friends, even Mr Dinwiddy."_

Hearing those softly spoken forgiving words from someone she felt she had betrayed, Jeanie grabbed tightly onto one of the former engine's coat lapels with her hand and pulled herself into him, and sobbed quietly over his shoulder.

_"I... I'm s-s-sorry, Thomas. I'm s-sorry f-f-for what I did. It... it's not the real me it's not."_

_"I know what it's like not being the real me, Jeanie,"_ he replied in the same gentle tone. _"Whenever I want to say or do something, things inside me, I think they're feelings like real people have, and they keep telling me to say or do something completely different to what I want to do or say, and I don't like all of those feelings. If they're really like what you have inside you, Jeanie, then you must be a brave person having to deal with them all the time, that's for sure!"_

As Jeanie cried her feeling of relief that she wasn't hated or despised by the former engines and the others, she couldn't help trying to picture a look of confusion on the Thomas' face as he tried to deal with two opposing thoughts, and giggled once as she sobbed.

Thomas heard a muffled snort next to his ear and grinned. _"Really, I mean it,"_ he said. _"Earlier, before you... you know, I was almost ready to grab my friend and shake him to make him realise we'd failed to save Lady, so you see, it happens to engines, even, well, former engines as well, so it's not that a big deal, I suppose."_

Jeanie sniffed back her runny nose and mumbled, _"When... when did you become so wise, Tho-Thomas?"_

_"I've never been wise, Jeanie,"_ she heard him say quietly, then, _"I remember one day when Sir Topham left me in charge to make all the decisions, and that was one of the worst days of my life, I can tell you! Every time a problem came up, I kept second-guessing it, and everything went horribly wrong. Services ran late and went to the wrong stations, parcels were delivered to the wrong place, Farmer McColl was kept waiting for his delivery... Hmmph, I managed to muddle through at the end, though, but that was more to do with luck than good judgement. Luckily, I managed to sort everything out before Sir Topham returned and I escaped a telling off by the skin of my paintwork!"_

_"Teeth,"_ said Jeanie.

_"Teeth?"_ repeated Thomas in a confused voice.

_"Yes, Thomas. Teeth. People say that they've escape from something by the skin of their teeth."_

Thomas chuckled, and said, _"I'll have to remember that when we're all engines again and I tell Gordon and the others all about our adventure!"_

ooo

Lady looked at the old man gazing adoringly at her as his hands fidgeted with his hat in front of his stomach and turning it round and round by its brim. Thomas had taken Jeanie to one side and was comforting her, James had gone with Mr Jones to fetch the other two engines out of the cave and she was now alone with just the old man left, his jaw bouncing up and down below a simpering smile as he silently gazed at her. She smiled broadly back at him and winked before saying, _**~Mr Dinwiddy, I was told a very long time ago that you saw me without any clothes on, you naughty little boy!~**_

ooOOoo

Author's note: You've probably notice the slight ret-con I did with Gladys the railcar. I wasn't fully sure when I first wrote her whether to give her a face or not, but this chapter confirmed an idea and something I wanted to get across. Please bear in mind that everything you've read so far is a first iteration of this story, and, once it's completed, I'll be giving it a major overhaul to clear up any plot-snags that may have cropped up.

If you've noticed something that may be one of those, please let me know via the review box. I may have missed something that I will need to amend. Thank you for reading this story.

Tony.


	26. Chapter 26

Author's Note: Looking back at the last few chapters, I realised that I'd buggered up the sequence of events at the end of chapter 25. I have amended it slightly, but it doesn't affect the story in any way so you don't need to re-read it. What I HAVE changed, though, is the wording to a few sections that spoilt what I had originally planned for the beginning of chapter 26. Oops, sorry, my bad! The relevant alterations are below, and underlined:

_"Actually,"_ said James, turning his head to look at Jeanie, _"we're standing inside Muffle Mountain, which is where Lady's cave is. It's amazing, isn't it?"_

_"Er, yeah,"_ Jeanie muttered quietly to herself, then, a bit louder, said, _"That means we're in, like, America, yeah?"_

_"That's right,"_ said James, nodding.

_"Fuck!"_ she spat out. _"So how the hell do we get back to Sodor when the portal we came here through leads back to a blocked tunnel thousands of miles away?"_

_"There's a portal outside that leads back to Sodor," _said Thomas.

_"But we'll need Lady's magic to use it,"_ said James.

_"Once we bring her back to life, that is," _Thomas said to his friend.

_"That's IF we manage to bring her back to life,"_ said Jeanie caustically.

_"I hope we find a telephone somewhere,"_ said Jones the Steam, peering into the engine's small tank on Jeanie side of the engine. _"My wife will be wondering where I am when I don't turn up for supper."_

_"There's a water storage tank just outside inside her cave back there,"_ said Thomas, pointing towards the entrance. _"We can use water from that to wash her. It won't take long as there's a hosepipe fixed to a tap near to where she's parked up."_

_"So I don't have to hunt around for another hosepipe, then,"_ said Jeanie, smirking at him as she spoke. _"Who's being silly now, then, eh?"_ she added, before starting to giggle when she noticed a blush appear on his grey cheeks.

Thomas grinned back at her and said, _"Oops, silly me!"_

_"So, Thomas,"_ said Jeanie, then, _"Where's this portal that'll take us back to Sodor?"_

Thomas pointed to a spot along the track about three hundred yards from the cave entrance, and said, _"It's over there. You can't see it but it is there. Lady used her magic to make it open for me whenever I needed to return to Sodor after visiting her."_

Jeanie looked to where Thomas was pointing but, as he'd told her, she couldn't see anything. Shrugging her shoulders, she muttered, _"I hope so, Thomas, or we're stuck here for good!"_

_**~Thank you, Jeanie,~**_ said Lady, relief flowing through her that her fear hadn't come to pass, at least, not right then. Later, maybe, she didn't know, and hoped never to find out. _**~There's a portal nearby that I can use to take us all to Sodor. Idris will have to stay inside me until we get there as I'm not strong enough yet to take us all through, so, Jeanie Watkins, I will share my magic with you after we have arrived on Sodor and I am able to make Sparkle under my own power again. Is that all right with you, Jeanie?~**_

_"Yeah, yes, I can wait till then, I think,"_ said Jeanie, knowing now that she could keep herself anchored to something positive like the thought of getting back home again, she should be able to cope with it all. _"Er, how long will that take, exactly?"_ she asked.

And now, hopefully error-free, I give you...

Chapter 26

Ivor huffed and puffed as he slowly pushed the three wagons and Edward out of the tunnel and into the open air. Thomas and Jeanie got up from the rail they'd been using as a seat and walked over towards Lady. Seeing the newly restored magical engine resplendent in her bright purple and gold colours, the old blue engine's eyes widened with pleasure and he blew an excited PEEP-PEEP with his whistle. The connection he again felt with her was as solid as it had ever been and he called to her in delight. _**~LADY, I am SOOoooooo glad to see you again!~**_

_**~EDWARD!~**_ Lady cried back, as equally delighted to see the old engine as he was with her. _**~Ooh,~**_ she then gasped. _**~You're hurt! How ever did you manage to do THAT, you poor thing?~**_

_**~Old age, I think,~**_ replied Edward rather sheepishly, _**~and I suppose a bit of stubborn pride. I... I didn't want to tell the others I was in pain in case they stopped our mission to get the water we needed to save you, an-~**_

_**~Oh, my poor, dear Edward,~**_ sighed Lady, her eyes looking pityingly at him. _**~You went through all that just for me? Well, I think you were so brave and noble to risk yourself like that for me, my old friend. I'll never forget this, Edward, and you will always be my hero!~**_

Edward's cheeks reddened at the magical engine's lavish praise and, his fire having been damped down, vented a few small puffs of steam in embarrassment. _**~How... how do you feel now, Lady?~**_ he asked her, anxious to turn attention away from himself. _**~Have you got all your magic back?~**_

_**~Idris is helping me to gather it all together again,~**_ said Lady, still smiling fondly at him, _**~but it feels as though some of it is missing, and I'm not sure what it means yet, though I suppose it'll take me a while before I feel fully balanced again. I'm really glad there are so many ley lines around here I can draw strength from, but I think that whatever it was that made me ill in the first place also used them to spread its foulness all over the land. It's terrible what's happened out here!~**_

In his joy to see Lady, Edward hadn't noticed the state the surrounding countryside was in, but now, as he peered around with wide, staring eyes, he gasped with shock at what he saw.

_**~It's... everything's black!~**_ he cried in horror. _**~What is all that stuff?~**_

_"It's soot,"_ said James, "_though I think a good downpour will soak it into the ground... eventually."_

_**~I hope it doesn't damage the soil or the plants,~**_ said Lady, frowning_**. ~Hmmm, I can't feel anything malevolent hanging around in the air, but that's not to say it's actually gone away, so I don't really know. I'll ask Idris if he can feel anything.~**_

The group then waited as Lady and the dragon in his spirit form communicated with each other, only the gentle hissing and chuffing of the engines broke the silence until Lady spoke again.

_**~Idris says he can't feel anything, either, except for an after-taste of something most foul.~**_

_"That's good, isn't it?"_ Thomas asked her. _"I mean, it'll be safe for us to use the portal to go back home, then, yes?"_

Lady looked to Thomas, her eyes slowly widening as a look of horror appeared on her face.

_**~Oh, Thomas!~**_ she moaned. _**~That's what I could feel was missing... it's the portal to Sodor! It's gone!~**_

_"What?"_ asked Jeanie, looking from Thomas to Lady and back again.

_"Gone?"_ said Thomas. _"What do you mean 'gone', Lady? Where's it gone to?"_

_**~I don't know, Thomas,~**_ said Lady. _**~It's just... gone. I can't feel it anymore!~**_

_"I said,"_ said Jeanie quite forcefully, now staring at Lady, _"WHAT?"_

Thomas looked at her and said, _"Er, the portal, Jeanie. The one I told you about earlier. Lady says she can't feel it here any more."_

_"So,"_ said Jeanie, slowly nodding her head, _"what you're saying is, we're still stuck here, then. I fucking KNEW something like this was going to happen!"_ she hissed, then turned away and started walking back towards the cave.

_"There's ALWAYS something,"_ she cried out tearfully as she brushed past James as he checked the rope sling on Edward, and started running towards the entrance, but in her haste, didn't hear what Lady was telling Thomas.

_"It's one thing after a fucking other!"_ she continued disparagingly. _"Nothing ever changes! FUCK IT!"_

_"JEANIE,"_ called Thomas, not wanting his human friend to get upset again. _"COME BACK... PLEASE! LADY'S JUST TOLD me that..."_ but he fell silent as she got out of hearing range and just shook his head. Turning to the magical engine, he said, _"I really hope you can help her, Lady. She's getting more... volatile as time goes on."_

_**~She can't help it, Thomas,~**_ said Lady. _**~It's the unbalanced magic inside her that's causing it. I really want to do something for her, but I can't risk giving away any of my magic yet until we get to Sodor and I feel right in myself. We'll just have to help her as much as we can.~**_

Jones the Steam had heard what he thought was an argument going on and, after jumping out of Ivor's cab to investigate, saw the now sobbing Jeanie running towards him.

_"I wonder what's happened now?"_ he said to Ivor, then, as she veered towards him, almost knocking him over as she stumbled into his arms, he managed to grab hold of her to stop them both from falling, and asked, _"What's the matter, cariad?"_

_"We're still stuck here!"_ she wailed at him. _"We... we save Lady and she tells m-m-me she can help me when we g-g-get back to S-S-Sodor, which is fine, but the... the only way b-b-back has g-g-gone!"_

_"What do you mean 'gone'?"_ asked Jones, feeling disappointment rising inside himself that something calamitous had happened not only for the young woman to be as upset as she was, but to possibly stop them from going home. Gently, he loosened her grip on his coat sleeves and, with his left hand holding onto her left wrist, reached his right arm across her shoulders and turned her back around to face the way she'd come from, and slowly guided her back towards where Thomas and the others were standing next to Lady.

_"Let's go and see what's wrong, Jeanie,"_ he said soothingly to her. _"There's been so many strange things happening to us today, something's bound to crop up again to put things right!"_

As they got nearer to where the others were standing, Jones noticed that, considering they allegedly couldn't return home, they didn't look as upset as they ought to have been, and he puzzled over what could have occurred for Jeanie to get worked up. _"Is it true what Jeanie just told me, Thomas?"_ he asked the blue-coated former engine. _"Are we really still stuck here?"_

"_It's all right, Mr Jones,"_ said Thomas, smiling reassuringly. _"We're not stuck here at all. Lady says that there's a portal at Shining Time Station she might be able to use."_

_"What do you mean?"_ asked Jones, looking to both James and Thomas for an answer.

_"Well,"_ said Thomas, _"that portal I told you about earlier, Lady said that it's gone somehow, but Jeanie ran off as Lady was telling about the one in Shining Time Station and didn't hear her."_

_"Oh,"_ said Jones. _"So we're not stuck here, then?"_

_**~No, Mr Jones,~**_ said Lady, _**~we're not. It won't take us long to get there, but I'll need Idris to pull the portal onto the track for us so we can enter it.~**_

_"Where is it, then, if it's not on the track?"_ Jones the Steam asked her.

_**~It's inside the ticket office. Mr Conductor uses it when he needs to go to the other stations. It's strange, but I can't feel a link to him anymore, either. I hope he's all right.~**_

_"Um, Lady..."_ started Jeanie, as hearing the man's name rang a bell in her mind, but Jones the Steam spoke over her...

_"There, Jeanie,"_ he said, giving her a gentle hug, _"I told you it would be all right, didn't I?"_

_"Yes, you did, Mr Jones and... and I'm sorry I got all worked up. Fuck! All I'm doing is getting things wrong and swearing and shouting and... Fuck, Lady, I'm... I'm sorry to tell you this but when I was in a meeting with Sir Topham, he... he said that Burnett Stone told him that this Mr Conductor fellow was, um, dead. I'm sorry to give you the bad news."_

_**~OH, NO!~**_ cried Lady, and Jeanie and the others all saw a look of great sadness appear on the engine's face.

_**~That's why I couldn't feel him,~**_ said Lady mournfully. _**~What about Stacy Jones, Jeanie? Did Sir Topham say anything about her? Is she all right?~**_

_"I... I don't know,"_ said Jeanie, thankful that, as far as she was aware, she didn't know of any other people that the magical engine may have known had died. _"He only spoke about Mr Conductor."_

As Jeanie look at the faces of the group standing around her, she saw the glum expressions on both Thomas and James's faces, and took it for granted that they had known the man as well. It was an unusual name the guy had, she thought to herself, Mister Conductor, not as good as 'Dai Station', Edwin Jones' boss, she added, but then, no-one had told her yet of his magical nature, and she had naturally assumed it was a human being that had died.

_**~Sad as it is,~**_ said Lady then, _**~we have to move on. Mr Jones?~**_

_"Yes, Lady?"_ replied the welshman.

_**~I'd like to speak with your engine, if I may?~**_

_"By all means, Lady,"_ said Jones the Steam, and he stepped backwards to glance back down the track to where Ivor was standing. _"Er, will he hear you from over there?"_ he asked the magical engine.

_**~He will,~**_ said Lady, now with a smile on her face.

With that, the short engine driver raised his eyebrows at Thomas, tacitly requesting that he now take care of Jeanie, and released his hold on her before quickly strolling back to his engine.

_"Now, then, Ivor,"_ said Mr Jones when he was alongside his old friend, _"there's a very special engine I'd like you to meet. Her name is Lady and I want you to be on your best behaviour when you speaks to her."_

_"prp!"_

_"I know, of course you will,"_ said Jones, smiling, and he turned back to where the magical engine was waiting.

_"Lady,"_ he called out, _"I like to introduce you to my very good friend, Ivor the Engine."_

Ivor gave a short "prP" and then, in the unexpected and lengthy silence that followed, Jones looked back and forth between the two engines several times, frowning slightly as he wondered why neither of them were saying anything, and he frowned even more when he realised he hadn't understand what his engine had just said.

_"prP?" [ "Why, Lady?"]_

_~~Ivor, my dear, dear friend. I am so very sad for what happened to you. None of us knew then what we later found out, and for that, I am, no, WE were really, truly sorry for what happened with you. We ALL thought, including YOURSELF if must add, that we had all the information we needed for it to work, but it wasn't until afterwards that we found out we were wrong. My heart goes out to you, Ivor, and I won't even TRY to understand what it must have been like for you to be so different to the rest of us, as it would be disrespectful to you, and I wouldn't wish THAT upon you at all. _

_You wanted to be the first, Ivor, and we all thought back then that you were so brave, but none of us, even you, thought it could go so horribly wrong the way it did. We... We almost give up on the whole project, Ivor, but I couldn't bear to leave you alone like that, so I volunteered to be the next one so I could be with you. Lord Thamesford suggested we try something different and... well, here I am. ~~_

_"PrrPPprrR." ["I've had a long time to think about things, Lady. I have a... new life now that I've come to enjoy, and be with people I have come to love, and then there's Idris and his family. He has shown me what REAL magic is, Lady. What we did is but a drop in the ocean compared to what exists in the world, you know? We were after power and control. Hah! We were fools, Lady. We're not the ones with control or power now. Look around you. Who are the ones that need iron rails to run on and firemen in our cabs to shovel in coal? No, Lady, I have so much now, more than I'll ever need now that I have nothing."]_

Thomas and James watched curiously as the two engines seemingly "talked". It wasn't often an engine would speak in private to another and so they waited patiently until they could hear Lady or Ivor's proper voice again, and not the undecipherable peeps that they were currently making.

Mr Dinwiddy felt sad as, when Ivor peeped at her, the engine's beautiful face suddenly faded back into its smokebox. He wondered if it was an "engine" thing, as he certainly wasn't used to seeing engines with faces talking to each other, and didn't know what actually happened when they did. He hadn't seen the blue engine's face when it came out of the tunnel, only the front of it's smokebox, nor had he heard it speak other than to give a "PEEP-PEEP" on its whistle, but he had seen the magical engine's face when she was talking to it, and he had heard her as well. All this talk of connecting with things was probably why, and she had obviously kept a "connection" open with him back then, and so he just smiled again as he waited until he could see her face again, smiling because he and her had a secret together!

Jeanie felt the enchantment or whatever it was fall away from her as the two engines apparently spoke. She knew that that was more than likely how it was going to be until she had that magic from the magical engine to balance what she already had. She didn't like it, though, but she knew she'd have to accept the engine's condition and stay a part of the magic railway at least until she could finish with it safely, then she'd decide whether she wanted to stay a part or not. Part of her wanted to get to know the engines - former engines? - once they were trains again, and to speak with them again, but another part of her wanted to run away from it all. Sighing, she watched Thomas and James as they stood waiting until whatever was happening between the two old engines was over and someone could make a decision on what they would do next.

Deep within Lady's magical essence, Idris suddenly felt closed off from her, and although he was still connected at her at the magical level, he realised he now couldn't communicate with her. He knew she obviously didn't want him to hear what she was saying to Ivor and, for an anxious moment, he feared he about to be tricked into captivity, but then he recognised the subtle frequency of Ivor's energy as it resonated within the magical engine, and he sensed the sympathetic emotion being communicated. He knew they knew each other from time long gone, and realised that it was a meeting of, well, not exactly lovers, but old friends. His anxiety began to settle down then and he waited for them to finish speaking, hopefully, soon. He didn't like being closed off like this, and didn't voice a protest towards Lady, that is, as long as he didn't feel the spike of negative energy being directed at himself, for that would but a sign that he was about to be attacked. He was, however, also prepared just in case, unlike his father had been when he'd been caught unawares by the use of Words of Power, and if it did come to it, he'd show her what a magical fire dragon could _really_ do to defend himself!

_"Prrrbp!" ["After I took you into the tunnel, they wouldn't let me go back in there. I knew something had gone wrong, but no-one would to tell me what it was. I didn't understand. Everyone was acting nervous around me and they only gave me orders: go here, go there! Fetch this wagon, fetch that coach! Lady, they were all treating me as if I was a dog, and I didn't even have a decent driver until I met Edwin Jones many years later!"]_

_~~I couldn't do anything about that, Ivor, and I'm sorry it was so bad for you. Lord Stone had me shipped over here not long after I was... created, and then, to my horror, I found out that the bastard had branded me with a Rune of Obedience! ME, Ivor, the one he'd promised to share everything with! My current driver is his grandson, Burnett Stone, and when he was first introduced to me, I thought he would be just as bad as his father and grandfather before him, but to my surprise, you couldn't imagine a more gentler and caring man. Existing in this form now, we are both prisoners of our own choosing, Ivor. Remember, my friend, we are the ones who chose to do this to ourselves, no-one else forced us. It's great to speak with you again, Ivor, and to feel a connection with you again. With Idris helping me, it won't be long now before we're all back on Sodor. We'll talk again, then.~~_

_"Prp!" ["Good luck!"]_

_~~Thank you, Ivor.~~_

Both the humans and former engines were startled when they suddenly heard Lady say, _**~Right! It's time we were off! Thomas, couple me up to Edward, please, and I'll pull while Ivor pushes us all to Shining Time Station. James, if you'll be my driver for this trip?~**_

A chorus of yes-es came from the two former engines as they set about their various tasks. James slowly reversed Lady towards Edward until their buffers touched and Thomas coupled them up before deciding to ride on Edward and chat with him about pleased they all were now that Lady had been saved. Mr Dinwiddy joined his friend Jones the Steam on Ivor, and Jeanie looked down the procession of engines and wagons, resigning herself to sitting alone again in the brake van, but then she heard Lady call to her, _**~Jeanie, come and ride in my cab, please. We can talk as we travel.~**_

Jeanie stepped up into Lady's cab and stood next to James, casting her eyes over the various levers and gauges that Edwin Jones had tried explaining to her, and acknowledged that she still didn't know what half of them did.

James greeted her as he familiarised himself with Lady's controls, then, opened her firebox doors, forcing Jeanie and himself to shield their eyes against the startlingly bright red glow that filled it. They couldn't see any coal or flames or even any sign of Idris, just the bright glow of the colour red itself. _"Lady,"_ he said, _"with Idris inside your firebox, how can I get coal in there?"_

_**~You don't need to, James,~**_ answered Lady. _**~Idris is supplying me with just the right amount of heat for my needs. He'll sense it if I need any more power and simply give me more heat or reduce it when we slow down or stop.~**_

_"Oh,"_ said James, smiling as he thought about that for a moment. _"I won't have much to do, then, will I, if Idris is doing all the work?"_

_~No, James,~_ laughed Lady, _**~you won't! Now, Jeanie,~ continued Lady, ~please, tell me what has Sir Topham has had you doing for him... ~**_

ooo

As Jeanie explained how she discovered the magical railway's existence and everything that followed, she found herself both calming down after her earlier upset and developing a sense of purpose, and despite the dominating presence she could feel emanating from the magical engine, she began to understand why Thomas and James had respected it, no, _her_ so much. It felt as though she was talking her problems over with a really close friend without any fear of being judged or condemned in any way, and was really looking forward to the time when the magical engine would share some of her magic with her to counterbalance the one-sidedness of Sir Topham's. Soon, though, they approached the outskirts of Shining Time and, as they passed over a level crossing, it's bell clanging loudly to alert drivers and pedestrians of their approach, both she and Lady became quiet as they surveyed the state the small town was in. They'd already seen the black soot covering the land alongside the track as they travelled to the town, but seeing what it had done to the peoples' homes and gardens was heartbreaking.

The roofs of the buildings were black with soot, as well as the branches and leaves of the line of trees that stretched along one side of the town's main street. Most of the cars she saw, however, had been washed by their owners, who, as well as the many pedestrians she could see, were going about their daily business as though nothing had happened. It obviously hadn't rained over the weekend as there were still patches of soot on the ground that hadn't been swept up or washed away by the street cleaners, and it all looked quite surreal to her. Moments later, though, James slowed the procession down before finally stopping at the single low platform of Shining Time Railway Station.

It was a single-storey building with two peak-roofed sections built cross-wise to the rest of it, splitting the building into five sections. On one of the roofs, Jeanie could see a weather vane in the shape of a steam engine and tender and, below the roof's eaves, hung several baskets of very dry-looking flowers. In the centre of the building and above the double-door entrance was a large board displaying the words "SHINING TIME". James stepped onto the platform to meet Thomas, who had already jumped down from Edward and was walking towards Lady, and he asked Jeanie to accompany them into the station building. There were several people standing about or sitting on a bench as though waiting for their train, which told Jeanie that, unlike Knapford and the rest of Sodor, the trains here still appeared to be running as normal.

_"Who are we going to meet?"_ Jeanie asked him, looking around the platform as they approached the double doors.

_"The station manager's name is Stacy Jones,"_ said Thomas, _"but she's only ever known me as an engine, so I don't know how she'll react when she sees me and James like this."_

_"Do you think I should speak with her first, then?"_ asked Jeanie just as they reached the doors, one of which was being propped open by a fire extinguisher resting against it.

_"I think that would be best,"_ said Thomas, _"and you can tell her how Mr Stone is. I'm sure she'd be pleased to know he's not too unwell."_

_"Yeah, okay,"_ said Jeanie. _"Is that her?"_ she then asked him, nodding towards a red-uniformed, dark-haired woman standing behind a curved counter-bar and speaking on the phone.

_"Yes,"_ said Thomas, _"that's her."_

_"Right,"_ said Jeanie. _"James, could you go and get Mr Jones and Mt Dinwiddy, please. I think they should be here with us, after all, they're part of all this as well."_

_"Sure,"_ agreed James, and he set off on his errand.

Whilst Thomas and her waited for them, Jeanie peered through the doorway to look around the inside of the building.

The interior sections of the building were separated off by large archways, and though she couldn't see that far inside, she could see that the doorway led into a waiting area with a small café at the opposite end to the ticket-section. Smiling at the thought of having something decent to eat after they'd introduced themselves to the station manager, she looked around the waiting room they'd soon be entering. Long, padded benches and a couple of very comfy-looking sofas were provided for waiting passengers, and on the walls of the waiting room were painted several gaily-coloured murals depicting various transportation motifs.

A large red racing car had been painted on one section of the wall as though it was being driven along the wooden shelf that ran the length of the waiting room. Another part of the wall showed an ocean liner and, near the curved ticket-counter, there was a painting of a covered wagon from cowboy times next to a steamboat. Above that was an old steam engine like one she'd once seen in a cowboy film on the telly. There were other scenes with lorries, more cars, a plane and, of course, several more railway engines ranging from very early designs right up to quite modern diesels. One painting in particular caught Jeanie's eye, and she found herself being drawn to it as though she was being pulled into it. It was a painting of a signal box next to a sleek-looking steam engine, and on the other side of the signal box was an entrance to a tunnel, and it was the tunnel itself that was holding her attention, as though inviting her to step into it. She shuddered, and had to force herself to look away from it before she felt the onset of a panic attack developing, then, hearing footsteps behind her, Jeanie looked back and saw James with the two welshmen standing behind her. Smiling at them, she then said, _"Right, follow me, guys,"_ and stepped inside the waiting room.

The woman behind the counter had, by now, finished her phone call and watched the group enter. It was, she thought to herself, a very motley-looking group of people. The young woman in front looked normal enough, though, dressed as she was in denim jeans, pale blue t-shirt and short black jacket, but the four men with her were very different. Two of them had coal-black hair and looked well into their middle ages with very pale-looking faces that, if she wasn't mistaken, were actually grey, and were wearing almost identical leather coats, one blue, the other red, and both the men had black pants, gloves and shoes. Red piping, buttons and trim ran along the edges of the two coats, setting them off very fashionably, she thought. Both the coats also bore a brass number on their breast pocket, the blue-coated man had the number one, while the red-coated man the number five. The third man was obviously an engine driver, judging by the blue pants and coat, sleeveless leather waistcoat and safety boots he was wearing. He was short, a little bit overweight and had wisps of red hair sticking out from under his blue cap. The last of their group looked to be really old judging from the white hair and bushy beard he had, but, from his bright-looking eyes and the way he was bouncing from one foot to another, he was still very fit for his age. He was wearing a faded tweed blazer and pants with leather patches on the elbows and knees. He was also wearing a battered-looking stove-pipe hat that he quickly removed and started to fidget with as he noticed her looking at him.

_"Hi, I'm Stacy Jones,"_ she announced, _"Manager of Shining Time Station. How can I help you folks?"_

_"Hi!"_ said Jeanie confidently. She'd seen enough american programs on TV to know that that was how they greeted each other. Her eyes flicked from the woman to the top of the counter and the desk she could now see behind it.

It looked a cross between Sir Topham's and Debra's in that it had various files, letters, a keyboard and monitor, and even a mug with a print of a steam engine on it. Jeanie surmised it contained coffee, as she knew that that was what americans liked to drink that rather than tea. She then saw the woman behind the counter raise an eyebrow as though waiting for a response. Her accent had definitely sounded american, Jeanie thought, and suddenly felt the enormity of recent events catching up with her, and felt lost all of a sudden.

She cast a quick glance towards Thomas, then to James and then to Jones the Steam before clearing her throat, noticing at the same time on the wall behind James the tunnel painting that had almost sent her off on one a few moments ago. She gulped nervously and turned back to face the woman. _"Um... yes, I hope so,"_ she mumbled, then, a little louder, added, _"I'm Jeanie Watkins. I'm from Sodor and I'm, er, Sir Topham's... um, personal assistant, and these, er, gentlemen are Thomas and James and they're form-"_

_"Oh, Sodor! You know Sir Topham Hatt?"_ the uniformed woman cut in, as a look of hope appeared on her face. _"Oh, I'm really glad you're here, Miss Watkins,"_ she added, leaning over the counter and offering her hand_, "There's so many things gone wrong here I don't know WHAT'S been happening!"_

Jeanie took the proffered hand and gently shook it, but before she could say anything else, the station manager said, _"Please, come through to my office..."_ and lifted up a section of the counter to make a gap for her to walk through. There wasn't much free space around her desk for them all to fit in, so Jeanie nudged Thomas' elbow for him to accompany her and signalled to James and the others to wait where they were.

_"This is Thomas,"_ she said, then, to the station manager as she gestured to him, _"er, that's James, Edwin Jones is Ivor's driver and that's, er, Mr Dinwiddy who owns..."_ she added, wondering why she hadn't yet learnt the old man's first name, _"a gold mine."_

_"Oh,"_ said the manager excitedly as she again cut in. _"You British have some quaint traditions with your names; those two guys have the same names as a couple of engines I've had the pleasure of meeting. What can you tell me, Miss Watkins, Jeanie? It's all right if I call you Jeanie, is it? Is Burnett with you, Burnett Stone? He's Lady's engineer and I haven't seen him nor Lady for a few days, now, so you'd better tell him to get his ass in here and tell me what's been going! I've lost a very dear friend just recently,"_ she continued, _"and some people I'm fond of are very ill in hospital."_

_"Er, he's in hospital as well,"_ said Jeanie_, "on Sodor,... but it's all right, he's not dead yet,"_ she quickly added, seeing a look of alarm appear on the woman's face. _"From what I've heard Sir Topham say, he's doing okay, but he's got a broken arm, I believe, and a few cuts and bruises. He got them when, er, he was travelling in Toby the, er, tramcar and they derailed. Toby stopped my car and asked me to help them and, as I was taking them to the hospital, Burnett collapsed and... well, we got an ambulance for him and..."_ she paused as the manager sat back down in her seat and start fanning her face with a railway timetable. _"He told Sir Topham about what happened to Lady over here and, well, to cut a long story short, we got here and managed to save Lady but we've got to get back-"_

_"Save Lady?"_ repeated Stacy, her eyes widening with more alarm. _"What's happened to Lady?"_

And so, for the next few minutes, Jeanie, as she stood in front of the seated station manager's desk feeling like a naughty schoolgirl reporting to her headmistress, briefly explained what had happened over the last few days and their mission to save Lady and travelling through the tunnels before finally coming to Shining Time in the hope they could get back home again.

_"... and so Thomas and James here,"_ she concluded, gesturing to the two former engines, _"the engines you said you'd had the pleasure of meeting, are here in, er, person to meet you, Ms Jones."_

_"I'm pleased to meet you again, Madam Jones,"_ said Thomas, offering his hand to the woman as he'd seen her do to Jeanie earlier.

_"Oh, call me Stacy, all of you,"_ said Stacy as she automatically shook his hand. _"'Madam Jones' makes me sound like someone from one of your old detective movies!"_ then the full meaning of what the young woman had just said about the two leather-coated men sank in. _"Ooh!"_ she gasped, then, staring at them. _"Yes, I can see the resemblance in their faces,"_ she said. _"Wow! Thomas, James, how are you both?"_ she asked excitedly, nervously holding her hand out to James as she realised just who, no, what was about to take a hold of hers. _"Oh, pull up some chairs, will you all,"_ she said as she shook James' hand, _"and sit down. You must be tired after standing for so long!"_

_"It's all right, Miss Stacy,"_ said Thomas, _"we're used to standing around and waiting."_

_"Speak for yourselves, guys,"_ said Jeanie as she went over to the window beside the desk and picked up a chair, _"but I can't remember when I last had a proper sit down!"_

She placed the chair between the desk and counter and sat on it, smiling with relief as she relaxed and listened to the others as they all chipped in a retelling of what she'd just told the station manager.

_"So,... Stacy,"_ said Jeanie to get back to the matter at hand, _"you didn't lose any engines, then?"_

_"I haven't heard of anything like what you said happened to you guys on Sodor,"_ Stacy replied. _"No, I think all our engines are fine. We only get the one regular engine running through here, though, and he was fine when I saw him this morning. I remember waking up with my head on top of some magazines with a terrible headache and very sore throat. On my way outside, I saw the remains of poor Mr C on the ledge by his signal box. I really miss his cheerful little voice around the place. I wonder who's going to water the flowers for me now?"_

Stacy's last words were almost whispered as she turned to face the office window and stare outside.

She's obviously thinking of her lost friend, thought Jeanie, turning her head to also look outside and noticing the bottom of one of the hanging baskets she'd seen earlier.

_"... and there was soot EVERYWHERE__," _she heard Stacy said, then, her face now impassive as she looked back at her visitors, _"and__ it took me three days to get everything in here clean again."_

_"I'm, er, sorry for your loss, Stacy,"_ said Jeanie, returning her gaze to the station manager.

_"I'm sorry to hear of the two engines you lost as well,"_ replied Stacy. _"It seems tragedy has struck us on both sides of the pond."_

_"Yeah,"_ Jeanie agreed solemnly, _"but for us to get back to Sodor before any more suffering occurs, Lady said we need to use the portal here to go through?"_

_"She must mean Mr C's tunnel,"_ said Stacy, pointing out into the waiting area. Her face again took on a sad expression as she added, _"He'd use his whistle to enter it whenever he wanted to travel somewhere."_

Jeanie looked back over her shoulder and felt her stomach churn as she saw what Stacy Jones was pointing at. It was the painting of the tunnel and signal box, and she realised then why she'd felt a "pulling" sensation from it. _"Oh,"_ she murmured to herself. _Shit!_

_"How ever will Lady manage to use it?"_ she then heard Stacy ask.

_"She'll... She'll have help from Idris, she said, to... to boost her magic,"_ Jeanie absently replied, realising that there was nothing she could do to avoid what was surely to cause her yet more problems, but knowing also she'd that have to go through with it if she wanted to return home again. The only option otherwise was to remaining here in America, which she had NO intention of doing!

_"Idris?"_ asked Stacy. _"Is he an engine I haven't met yet?"_

_"Oh, sorry,"_ said Jeanie apologetically. _"I mentioned his name but forgot to say what he was!"_

_"No,"_ said Thomas excitedly. _"He's not an engine, he's a dragon! A real magical dragon!"_

_"A MAGICAL DRAGON?"_ repeated Stacy, her eyes widening in surprise as she stared at Thomas. _"Now, this, I MUST see!"_

Being part of the railway industry, Stacy was fully aware of the magical nature of its rolling stock, but the existence of a real dragon was completely new to her. _"I've never seen a real live dragon before. Oh, I MUST see him, Thomas. I can see him, yes? Jeanie? Can I see him before you all go back to Sodor, please?"_

_"Um, I don't know. You'll have to ask Lady,"_ said Jeanie, finally coming out of her brooding. _"She's waiting outside and Idris... Idris is inside her."_

_"Inside her?"_ queried Stacy, puzzlement taking over from the look of expectancy that had replaced her initial surprise. _"He's got to be a really small dragon, then, if he's inside her cab?"_

_"Small?"_ scoffed Jeanie, _"he's fucking huge! Oops, sorry for that. No, he's quite a large dragon, I suppose, but... um, he's in his... er... spirit form at the moment... inside her firebox, helping her to get her magic back."_ As she finished speaking, Jeanie couldn't help but think to herself, _I never imagined I'd ever say something like THAT before now!_

_"Oh,"_ said Stacy, rather nonplussed, then, after a moment of silence, she said, _"I suppose I'd better go and ask Lady, then."_

ooo

Out on the platform, Stacy Jones' eyes widened as she took in the sight before her. Leading the procession of engines and wagons was Lady, who gave a short "Peep-peep" of greeting to the station manager.

_"This is Edward,"_ Thomas said to Stacy. _"Say hello to Stacy Jones, Edward,"_ he said to the blue tender engine.

_**~Hello, Stacy Jones,~**_ said Edward. _**~Pleased to meet you!~**_

_"And you, too, Edward,"_ said Stacy, then, turning to the short engine driver, she said, _"Mr Jones, yes? That's your engine at the rear?"_

_"Yes, it is,"_ replied Jones the Steam. _"His name's Ivor and he's, I'm very proud to say, the oldest engine in the world that can talk, though not like the way Lady can. IVOR!"_ he then called as they both walked over to him. _"Say hello to Stacy Jones, will you? She's the manager here, like Dai Station back in Llaniog!"_

_"PrP!"_

"Oh, wow!" squealed Stacy. _"That... that was so weird! How are you, Ivor? I'm really thrilled to meet you!"_

_"Now we'll go and meet Idris,"_ said Jones the Steam as they walked back along the platform. _"He's inside Lady's firebox. THOMAS,"_ he called, _"do you think Lady can ask Idris to pop out for a moment?"_

Thomas nodded and said, _"Lady? Did you hear Mr Jones just then?"_

Seconds later, Lady's funnel belched out a cloud of white smoke that rapidly turned red and formed itself into something that made Stacy Jones' eyes bulge, for there, flying up above the twin tracks outside her station office and looping back and forth in a figure-of-eight, was the most wonderful thing she'd ever seen since her first talking engine!

_"Um?"_ said Jeanie, looking about the platform at the people still waiting for their train and apparently not noticing what was going on right in front of them. _"Er, guys?"_

_**~It's all right, Jeanie,~**_ she heard Lady say to her. _**~The railway magic makes them ignore us. The only way they see Idris is if he actually wanted them to see him.~**_

_"That's right,"_ said Jones the Steam. _"Back in Llaniog, what he did was to let people see him and then make them think that he was so normal that they'd not see him, if that sounds right. Only people like Mrs Griffith, who would really believe a dragon existed, would be able to notice him."_

_"Oh,"_ said Jeanie. _"Well, I suppose it's all right, then."_

_"It works that way with us engines as well,"_ said James.

_"Once,"_ Jones the Steam then said, chuckling to himself as a memory came to mind, _"I wanted to show Mrs Griffith that Ivor could talk, but when I asked him to speak to her, he wouldn't at first. It was only some later that he actually spoke to her. Nearly had a heart attack she did!"_

_"I'll bet!"_ said Jeanie, grinning. _"When I first heard Lady talking to me through my mind, I thought I was going mad. I still do sometimes,"_ she finished quietly to herself as she watched Idris lazily descend and land on the platform just yards away from where they were standing.

_**# Hello, Stacy Jones.# **_

_"Oh, my!"_ exclaimed Stacy, clutching at her chest. _"You're... You're beautiful! I... I'm never going to forget this day as long as I live!"_

_"Can you do it, Idris?"_ Thomas asked the dragon. _"Can you pull the portal out onto the track for us?"_

_**# I can, but it will be a bumpy ride as we travel through it.# **_

_"As long as we get to Sodor in one piece,"_ said Jeanie, _"then I don't mind a few bumps, as long it's not for too long!"_

_**# We will need to be travelling quite fast to enter it.# **_

_"Er, how's this going to work?"_ Jeanie then asked. _"If the portal's part of a painting INSIDE the station, what, are we going to somehow crash into it?"_

_**~No,~**_ said Lady_**. ~What we'll do is reverse back down the track so we can build up some speed, then as we get nearer to the station building, Idris will draw out the energy of the portal's entrance out onto the track in front of me and we'll enter it that way. What worries me, though, is what will happen here after we pass through it. Do YOU know, Idris?~**_

The dragon tilted his head as though thinking, then looked at the station manager. _**# There may be a bang,# **_ he said to Stacy.

_"What sort of 'bang'?"_ she asked the dragon.

_**# I don't know, but you'd be wise to make sure no-one is inside the building when we enter the portal.# **_

_"Oh,"_ said Stacy, then, _"Ooh! I know! Lady, when I hear the crossing bell start, I'll call a practise fire-drill and get everyone out into the car park the other side of the station. They should all be safe there, I reckon."_

_**~That's a good idea, Stacy,~**_ said Lady.

_**# Yes, it is.# **_

_"Right,"_ said Jones the Steam, _"I'll go and let Ivor know what we're doing."_

_"Er,"_ said Jeanie, _"before we actually do this, can we at least have a snack in the café here? Please? I'm gagging for a cup of tea!"_

_"I suppose we can make time for a cuppa, Thomas, James?"_ asked Jones the Steam.

The two former engines, despite their rising excitement at the prospect of going back home to Sodor, looked at each other and grinned. _"I think,"_ said Thomas, _"we can do that, can't we, James?"_

_"I hope they've got some of those chocolate biscuits here like they have in Knapford!"_ he replied.

_"Great!"_ exclaimed Jeanie. _"Come on, then, guys! The café's this way!"_ but as she paced quickly back to the waiting room, she stopped as she realised something terribly wrong, and cursed, _"Shit! We haven't got any american money!"_

_"Don't you worry about that, Jeanie,"_ Stacy called out to her. _"after everything I've seen here today, you can have your teas on me!"_

ooo

Feeling suitably refreshed, the group reboarded the three engines and reversed back down the track. Lady had told them that they'd need at least three miles to build up enough speed for what they intended to do. Jeanie had voiced her concern that Idris may not have enough time to draw the portal onto the track, but the dragon had assured her that he could sense the portal's energy from a fair distance away, after all, it was Earth energy that made up the portal and he was a manifestation of that very same energy. Now, Jeanie and James, both inside Lady's small cab, looked along the line they'd soon be travelling back along.

_"Do you want to have the honour?"_ James asked Jeanie, gesturing with his hand to the magical engine's whistle cord.

_"Okay,"_ said Jeanie, and gave the cord two long tugs.

_"Here we go,"_ said James, and he pulled on Lady's regulator to start her rolling, but not so much that she would be hindered by the weight of the procession behind her causing her wheels to slip.

Jones the Steam was doing the same with Ivor, ensuring that when the little engine managed to shift the weight in front of him, it wasn't too fast or too slow to cause Lady problems.

It took considerable skill for two engines to do what they were doing, one pushing with another pulling, and Jeanie knew from earlier that afternoon how much James had to concentrate on what he was doing, so she stayed silent as she waited for the initial jolts to settle down. Lady, though smaller than Ivor, would be doing most of the work, with help from Idris, of course, and with the coordinated effort from Ivor, they were soon moving smoothly towards the level crossing again.

The clanging of the crossing bell started well before they were near it, giving road traffic enough time to get across or to stop safely before going over it, as there were no barriers to stop them, and as the two engines pushed more power to their pistons, Jeanie could feel their speed increasing. She felt her heart beat start to race with anticipation as the top of the station building appeared in the far distance.

Inside the station itself, Stacy saw the red light on the wall next to the entrance doors started to flash, and seconds later, heard the distant clanging of the crossing bell.

_"OKAY, EVERYBODY, CAN I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE?"_ she called out. _"This is a test fire drill! There is NO fire, but I want everyone to calmly but quickly go out through the emergency exit over by there,"_ she said, pointing to a glass door near the café section, _"and stay together in the car park outside. Leave your luggage and stuff behind; it will be safe! I will check every room in the building before I leave the building! Please, leave now and stay calm! Remember, this is just a practice!"_

She watched the waiting passengers and café users get up and leave through the emergency exit, then quickly made her way through the building, checking behind every door to make sure no-one was still inside. Although it was only a practice drill, she knew that this was something she would have to do in the event of a real fire. Finally, every room had been checked and cleared of people and then, as she herself was about to go out into the car park, she heard the approaching engines.

As Lady drew parallel to the station building, Jeanie suddenly felt as though her chest was being pulled out from inside her, then, everything she could see in front of her, Lady's control panel and levers, James, the station building and everything on it, and including, the station platform, indeed, everything she could see outside the magical engine's cab, all started to turn into a blur before her world went grey.

Nervous about what the dragon had said about there being a big bang, Stacy joined the station building's evacuees as the sound of the approaching steam engines increased in volume. Suddenly, she found herself stepping back towards the building, and realised that it must be due to the dragon "pulling" on Mr C's portal, and due to her connection to the railway magic, it was pulling _her_ as well. She struggled to shorten her steps and hopefully actually stop herself from moving, but then her skin started tingling and a wave of giddiness almost made her pass out. Her stomach tightened, churned, and then she was sick onto the tarmac of the car park as the sound of shattering glass suddenly filled the air and then a very loud but short "DA-CHACK", just like the sound of a giant elastic band snapping, and she was thrown backwards away from the station building and onto the hard ground.

As she slowly got back on her feet, one of the men standing nearby rushed forward to help her.

_"Gee, Stacy,"_ he said to her. _"When that, what was it - gunshot? – went off, I thought you'd been shot! Are you all right? You look awfully pale right now, and what smashed all the windows? Did somebody shoot at them?"_

Through her teary eyes, Stacy recognised the man as one of the regular commuters that used the station. _"Thank-Thank you, Mr Olsen,"_ she groaned, resting her head in her hands. _"I-I don't know what came over me just then. EVERYONE, the drill is over but... but I need to check the building first before anyone else goes back inside!"_

ooo

Not knowing if she was about to faint or not, Jeanie looked around at the grey world rushing past her. Sideways-stretched trees, what could be very elongated buildings, fields, water, mountains, all flew by outside Lady's cab in a twisting spiral as she watched, and making her feel quite nauseous as she looked out of Lady's cab. Reminded of what she'd experienced when they went through that portal inside the old tunnel, she hoped dearly it would stop sometime soon, as the eerie wailing she could hear was doing her head in as it rose and fell in pitch. She tried calling out James' name, but it seemed as though her words were being pulled away from her mouth and out of Lady's cab before they reached his ears, so she gave up on that idea.

James, on the other hand, was enjoying himself, whooping and cheering as the world outside spun around him, not realising that it was his joyful yelling that was annoying the young woman next to him.

Inside Edward's cab, Thomas, though, was thinking of the times he'd used the magical buffers on Sodor to travel to Shining Time, and noticed that something was wrong. He'd never had the sensation of being pushed into himself that he was currently feeling before now, and shouted, hoping she'd hear him, _"LADY! WHAT'S HAPPENING?"_

Holding onto the sides of Ivor's cab and each other for dear life, Jones the Steam said to his companion, _"It'll be over soon, Mr Dinwiddy... I hope!"_

ooo

Stacy pulled open the glass-less emergency-exit door and, as she stepped over fragments of glass and into the station building, she gasped out loud at what she saw, or rather, couldn't see. Apart from all the building's windows having shattered with bits of glass strewn everywhere, and where once there had been a painting of a signal box with an engine to one side and a tunnel entrance on the other, now, all that was there in place of the mural containing Mr C's portal, was a circular hole about two feet in diameter. It was no ordinary hole, however, for as she looked at it, or rather, tried to look at it, fully expecting to see through it and into the next room, she found her eyes wouldn't stop blinking as she tried to focus on it. All that was there was a blank void, a circle of absolutely nothing at all!

_"Now, how do I explain THAT to the building inspectors?"_ she muttered to herself.

ooo

Lady heard Thomas' cry but couldn't answer him right then as she had something quite important to deal with. She'd realised as soon as they'd entered the portal that there was something wrong, and was currently waiting for a response from Idris as to what, if anything, he could do to help them survive. _**~Speak to me, Idris, PLEASE?~**_

_**# There is no exit onto Sodor. I see the picture you have in mind of a set of buffers, but they no longer exist as an anchor for this end of the portal. There needs to be another anchor made for you to safely come out through.# **_

_**~You said 'you', Idris, not 'we'. Please explain...~**_

_**# I can force us out of this passage, Lady, I will survive, but I do not know if you and the others will. To them, it will be as though they have been pulled through a wall of stone. For them to survive, I need to pull on the one we entered through, and then push it in front of us. Also, there are no rails for you to land on. I can do it, but it will be very tiring for me, and I would need to rest for a few days afterwards to regain my strength as I would be very weak afterwards. To do this, though, we would need to fully combine our magic. Mine to you and then yours to me, but I fear... you know my fear, Lady.# **_

Lady knew the fear the dragon spoke of, for she had been there when his sire had been captured and forced to do despicable things through the use of Words of Power. Her talk with Ivor back at Muffle Mountain had brought home to her how limited she was in her current state as an engine, albeit a magical one, but, she also realised, the temptation to use the power that Idris possessed to try and better her position paled into insignificance with the threat to her own existence, and that of the engines she had come to know and love over the decades. How things have changed, she thought to herself, from when the idea of cheating death had turned her group of innocent and naïve students of the occult into experimental subjects for immoral scientists and corrupt businessmen. She knew the one thing the dragon didn't want was to end up like his father, and by yielding to her, he would be defenceless and at her mercy.

_**~I am no longer that person, Idris, and I believe you truly know that by now.~**_

Despite the persistent wariness he felt when dealing with strangers, and his inherited distrust of the magical engine, Idris couldn't help but agree with what she had just said. He'd known her barely a day, and only had his father's memories to guide him, but then, his lifetime so far was but a few moments when compared to the centuries that Gwilym had lived, and the wisdom he was guided by was not that of his own. That was the truth of the situation, and he now had to put his trust in someone that had betrayed his father. He hated what he was about to do, and resigned himself to never seeing Olwen or his children again. He hoped that the memories he'd be passing on to Gaian would enable his son to make better decisions than _he_ had, and with that, he said, _**# Do what you have to, Lady.# **_

On hearing those words, Lady almost sighed with relief, but instead, set about doing for the very first time what the original creators of the portal had done. She already knew the Words of Power that would enable her to utilise the full extent of the dragon's power, indeed, had even used them in the past to force Gwilym to immolate experimental subjects, and now she had the opportunity to use them again, not to overpower the fully grown Gwilym, but his offspring, a young dragon that hadn't yet realised his full potential, and use them she did...

On hearing the ancient and incomprehensible Words, Idris felt his spirit form start to sink within itself and then...

She was EVERYTHING! She was the Creator of Life itself and she had the power to do ANYTHING she willed. She felt it wrap itself around her own and consume it, but she was still there, outside looking in as it surrounded her, it became her, and she was it, she was ALL. She thought of what she could achieve now, the good she do with it, the ability to shape the world itself to how she wanted it to be. She recalled the plans and dreams she'd once had, her ambitions, the reason why she and her companions had started what they did so long ago, how with the utterance of one more Word of Power she could change everything to how she wanted.

She felt herself forming that word in her mind, but that wasn't who she was now, and she did what she knew she had to do and gave that power, and more, back to its rightful owner, for she knew it would be wrong if she didn't, and in the infinitesimal moment before she felt the loss of her magic for the dragon to use it to save them, she felt the loss of what she had had and now didn't have, and she let go of those past hopes and dreams she once had in order to BE who she said she was, for only by doing so would the dragon allow her to have it back again, as he would now know who she truly was.

... he had no time to dwell on how relieved he felt that the magical engine had kept her word, all he did have time for was to reach back to where they'd come from and PULL...

The humans and former engines, Ivor, Edward and even Lady all experienced the momentary feeling of being turned inside out as the energy of the portal entrance passed through them and out in front, and as the sensation left them as inexplicably as it had came, the three humans all fainted. The more robust former engines, though, managed to stay conscious, though James' face was as red as his coat and Thomas was coughing as though his lungs were on fire.

As he felt the portal energy merge with his spirit form, Idris pushed it out in front of Lady and used her railway magic to project two streams of brilliant white light through the portal, forming them into iron rails that connected to the part of the track from where the original ones had been removed. Then, with a ripping sound that shattered the night-time silence and a blinding flash of light, Lady, then Edward and the rest of their procession appeared straight out of thin air and on top of the two new rails, rolling forward with the momentum they'd picked up just before entering the portal at Shining Time Station.

With a subtle alteration to the frequency of his spirit-form, Idris returned Lady's railway magic back to her and she opened her eyes to see the star-lit night-time sky above the dark fields and hedgerows of the Island of Sodor. They'd made it.

ooOOoo


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

It wouldn't be long now before the travellers would see the night-time lights of Knapford, and Thomas was almost bursting with anticipation at seeing his friends and Sir Topham again and telling all of them about his and James' adventure. James had been feeling excited, too, and, like Thomas, had wanted to see his friends Gordon, Henry and Percy and to tell them all about what he and Thomas had been up to and introduce the new friends they'd made. Unfortunately, he had something on his mind that began to eat away at his enthusiasm. Edward, unlike his friends, was already feeling terrible; worrying over what Sir Topham would say to him about almost sabotaging their chance of saving Lady, the magical engine.

Jones the Steam and Mr Dinwiddy were, by now, feeling rather worn out after all they'd been through that day, but despite the extra hours their trip through the time zones had added to their working day, neither of them showed any sign of giving in as they chatted with Ivor about what they'd get to see of the Island of Sodor. It _was_ at the back of their minds, though, as to how on Earth they'd manage to get back to Llaniog again, nevertheless, the three of them were really glad to be back in the UK again after their adventures in the tunnels and Lady's cave, but Sodor wasn't Wales!

Ivor puffed happily along, his "pshhhhtehkoof" a completely new sound to the ears of Sodor's nocturnal wildlife as he pushed the wagons and engines in front of him whilst Lady pulled from the front. It had been really hard work at times, and he wondered where he was getting the strength to manage for so long from, but, knowing that his dragon friend Idris was helping Lady, he did think that he could feel some of the dragon's magical power finding its way to his own pumping pistons.

Jeanie, however, wasn't feeling any excitement at all. Instead of feeling the joy of being back in her homeland after successfully helping to save the magical engine, the only thing on her mind was the fear that the magical engine would somehow be unable to help her despite the assurances that Lady had given her before leaving Shining Time earlier that day. She felt her stomach muscles tighten suddenly with nerves as she saw the first few lights illuminating the outskirts of Knapford, and a feeling of nausea spread its way through her body. Her mouth felt wetter and she felt as though she wanted to be sick, her fear of never getting rid of the constant mental anguish that tormented her mind with its never-ending back-and-fore arguing and contradiction not helping to alleviate her at all, and she gripped tightly onto the edge of Lady's cab before quickly lowering herself into a kneeling position, whimpering quietly to herself.

James, seeing the young woman seemingly collapse, knelt down beside her and asked, _"Are you alright, Jeanie? What's the matter?"_

She looked at the worried former engine and, tight-lipped, slowly shook her head from side to side. _"No,"_ she managed to say, though quietly. _"It's... it's alright, James. I... I'll be okay soon, I hope. Just feeling a bit sick is all."_

James placed his hands gently on her shoulders and gave them a light squeeze, smiling softly at her and nodded his head as she let out a muffled sob. He hoped she'd be feeling better soon, for despite her strange behaviour since they set off to get the water from Glastonbury, he'd gotten to like the young woman, and had appreciated her willingness to learn whatever she could about him, Thomas and Edward. He hoped it wouldn't be too long before all this was over and Lady had saved not only the former engines and wagons, but also the young woman crying quietly beside him as they fully entered the town of Knapford.

This "being human" business, thought James, was getting to be rather too much for him at times, and he was really looking forward to being an engine again with only an engine's hopes and worries to concern him, and to have only an engine's dreams, of course. The worst thing for him being in this human form had been what he'd been going through when he slept at night. What he'd been seeing was like nothing he'd ever dreamed when he was an engine. He'd talked with Thomas about them when they were back in Lady's cave, and he'd learnt that his friend was also having them, but, later, when he asked Edward about _his_ recent dreams, the blue engine had said that his dreams were like his usual ones: dreams of pulling special coaches and of helping push Gordon and the Express up steep hills, and was surprised that James' were somehow different. _Maybe Lady will know about them, _he thought to himself, and, looking towards the magical engine's control panel as he thought of the best way to put it, said, _"Lady, I need to ask you about something."_

Lady and Idris were deep in conversation, discussing how best to tackle the momentous task ahead of them. Since they'd arrived back on the island, they'd both been searching for any sign of the foul blackness that had invaded Sodor and affected the railway, but they'd found nothing so far. Indeed, the island seemed to be totally free of any lingering bad effects, and it was as they started to piece together their plan to save the engines that Lady heard her name being called.

_**~Yes, James?~**_ she replied. _**~What do you need to ask?~**_

_"Lady,"_ said James, feeling a bit foolish and embarrassed now that he was actually about to vocalise his problem to her. _"These... these past few days when... when I go to sleep at night, I... I sort of see things... strange things. Do you know what they are?"_

_**~What sort of things do you see, James?~**_ she asked him, a hint of worry in her voice.

_"Um..."_ James swallowed nervously, _"I... I see people I don't know, Lady, and... and I see places I haven't been to when I was an engine. They're not nice places at all, Lady, and instead of sleeping inside an engine shed, I sleep in a small, dirty room with only a candle to help me see in the dark instead of arc-lights, and instead of a fireman shovelling coal into my firebox in the morning, I eat foul-tasting bread with green mould on it. I don't work on the railway in these new dreams I'm having, Lady, _

_"I... I work in a hospital with lots of sick and dying people inside it, and all I do all day is clean lots of blood off the floor. The... the other thing is, Lady, instead of them being like the dreams I used to have when I was an engine, these... these dreams I'm having now are like... they're like memories, Lady, memories of things that I can remember when I was an engine and remembered railway things, like the way I remember the names of all the coaches and all the other engines I know and the different places I've taken trucks and coaches to. Thomas says it's happening to him as well, Lady, but he dreams that he has a wife and children instead of a hospital and blood. What... what is happening to us, Lady?"_

James waited as Lady seemed to take a while thinking about what he'd just told her, and he wondered if she knew about this sort of thing or not as she was, after all, an engine just like him, but she was _magical_ and she knew lots of things he didn't. Being inside the magical engine's cab, though, the red-coated former engine anxiously waiting for an answer couldn't see the deep frown that appeared on Lady's face as she started to speak again.

_**~It's... it's probably just something caused by that foul black stuff that affected you all. I wouldn't worry about it, James, after all, once you're an engine again and have only an engine's dreams, you won't see those... strange things again. Isn't that right, Idris?~**_

Again, James had to wait for a response, and several seconds went by when all James could hear were the clickety-clack of the magical engine's wheels as they rolled along the track, then he felt the dragon's musical chiming fill his mind, but, James thought to himself, it didn't sound quite like it usually did, it was wrong somehow, discordant, angry, even, and he feared that he'd upset the dragon in some way.

_**# It is... a great wrong that has happened to you, James, but Lady is correct when she says that you will not have this problem when you become an engine again.# **_

James waited to hear more, relieved that his night-time "problem" would be over soon, but, as time went on and neither Lady nor Idris spoke any more on the matter, he began to wonder why Lady had seemed a bit evasive when she'd spoken to him, and Idris' usually melodic timbre had sounded quite off-key to his previous communications. This puzzled him, and he wondered for a moment if he ought to have just kept quiet instead of mentioning the dreams he and Thomas had been having.

The sudden realisation of how clear his thoughts were right then after his brief moment of introspection came as a bit of shock to him, especially when he realised that he'd been feeling and thinking like this ever since waking up that terrible morning when all the engines' lives had unexpectedly changed, and, he realised, he hadn't even noticed! If he got the chance, he silently told himself, he'll talk more about this with Thomas when they get to Knapford Station. He thought of asking the young woman crouching down beside him about it, but he doubted he could explain it properly to her, and besides, he knew she had problems of her own to deal with. He wondered then if maybe Henry, Gordon or Percy had been having theses sort of dreams, and also the other engines as well. Were the former coaches and trucks having problems as well, he asked himself. Silent in thought, he watched the familiar sights of Knapford pass by as they advanced further into the town, but instead of the cheerfulness he'd felt when they'd first arriving back on Sodor, it was now a sense of nervousness and fear that filled him, and he didn't know why.

ooo

Bulgy was parked up outside Knapford Station as one of the night-time rail replacement services, and inside his cab, Reg was straining his eyes in the dim glow of his cab light as he read the evening paper's leading article and feeling rather proud of himself that he'd had a part to play in it. Under the headline that screamed "SODOR'S SUPER-ROADS" at its readers, the paper's main story were leaked details from the Island of Sodor Council that plans were being discussed to revolutionise the island's transportation system in light of the railway company's failure to get any of its trains to run.

Smirking to himself that he, a mere bus driver, was involved in all this, albeit being Tiberius Hatt's "silent partner" and general henchman, he thought of his friend Bulgy's long-time dream of no longer having to compete with the trains for passengers to carry. He started snickering to himself as he pictured himself driving along one of the new "Super Roads" that would replace the soon-to-be ripped up railway tracks and Bulgy full to capacity with passengers, but his joy was suddenly cut short as he heard a sound that hadn't been heard on the island for several days now, and he cocked his head to one side to listen more attentively before scrambling out of Bulgy's cab and running over to the station's locked entrance gates to get a better view, then he cursing loudly.

ooo

_"Thank you,"_ Mr Percival said to Sir Topham as the railway owner placed a tray laden with three cups of tea onto a cleared space of his office desk at Knapford Station. He shifted slightly in his seat for Sir Topham to pass him on his way back to his own behind the desk. Mr Percival, who had been in Knapford going through the reports from the former engines and wagons' "baby-sitters", had phoned him to report a serious problem, and as Sir Topham had been just about to retire for the night showed how serious the matter was, as both he and Burnett Stone had come over to meet him and discuss what had been happening. The reports Mr Percival had received were from the driving and maintenance staff, and several of them had mentioned that the former engines, as well as the former coaches and trucks, were all acting "differently", and after contacting some of the drivers and fitters, apologising for the lateness of his calls, of course, he'd been rather alarmed at what they told him, and he thought it best that Sir Topham be made aware of the situation.

It had started three days ago when a group of former engines in one of the camp sites had started arguing and fighting amongst themselves, and this sort of behaviour had spread to the other sites as well, whilst other former rolling stock had taken to wandering off into the countryside and nearby towns. They'd all returned, of course, and so nothing much was said of it at the time, but now, seeing all the reports together, it didn't present a pretty picture.

It was also the way the former wagons and engines were reacting to each other and to the driving staff that had also caused a concern. It was, the three men agreed after reading through all the reports, as if they'd all started distrusting each other, as well as the railway staff that were trying to control them. They all barely spoke to each other, indeed, the only times they'd been seen to be conversing together were in huddled groups, and even then it was in hushed whispers so as not to be heard by the railway staff.

It was as though they'd all suddenly become fearful of the staff, Sir Topham had suggested to Mr Percival, who then admitted to seeing this sort of behaviour amongst his own narrow-gauge engines. Mr Percival had added that they were acting like prisoners of war in concentration camps, which had elicited a snort of laughter from Burnett Stone and a frown from Sir Topham. The emotions shown by the former engines and wagons were no longer of amusement or humour, but more negative feelings such as anger, puzzlement and confusion, especially the latter, and it had been quite common for several of the former coaches, all of whom the staff had noticed to be female, to be seen crying and weeping as though in grief over something or someone they'd lost. It was most alarming, Sir Topham told his colleagues, and a worrying change from the curiosity and wonder they'd all been showing the first couple of days after the Event, and he recalled Tiberius Hatt's warning that they would soon all die if not returned to their former state. He wondered if the poor unfortunates could somehow sense their impending doom, and shuddered.

Then they'd started to discuss the fact that the more prominent displays of anger and violence had come from the male former engines and trucks, the trucks being a mix of the sexes, when, suddenly, as Sir Topham picked up his cup of tea, the loud shriek of a train whistle suddenly filled the air, startling the three men so much that Sir Topham almost spilled his hot tea over his trousers, causing him to recall the incident earlier on at Hatt Hall involving his "strange feeling". In his sudden haste, though, as all sorts of questions flew through his mind and, despite trying his best to put his cup of tea back down safely on its saucer, some of its contents still managed to splash over onto his desk after his sudden shock. He cursed silently to himself as he rose up from his seat and joined the other two men as they rushed from his office and through the ticket section out onto the platform, his heart racing.

ooo

Lady let out a loud whistle, wondering if any of the railway staff were inside the office building. She'd noticed the absence of anybody standing about on the platform, and apart from the glow behind the pulled blinds of an office, there was no sign of activity at all, but then the door next to the window opened, and a man she knew as Peregrine Percival ran out onto the platform, then she saw someone much, much more familiar come out behind him. _**~BURNETT!~**_ she cried with joy.

_"LADY!"_ Burnett cried back, rushing as quick as he dared after his recent accident over to the engine he thought he'd never see alive again. His face lit up with equal joy as he gazed into the round face and eyes of the small engine and, carefully leaning over, ran the hand of his good arm down the side of Lady's cheek. Sniffling, he said, "_Lady, it's SO great to see you again. How... how did you get here?"_ His mind had taken in the presence of the trucks and other engines behind her but, just then, his one concern was for his magical friend.

_**~It's a long story, Burnett, but the important thing is that I'm here now. Thomas and his friends managed to find their way to my cave, and with some special help, they saved me.~**_

_"Special help?"_ said Burnett, looking confused as he stepped back to gaze behind Lady. _"What do you mean, special help?"_ He recognised Edward, but not the small engine at the back. _"Who's your new friend, Lady?"_ he asked. _"Is that your special help?"_

_**~No, Burnett,~**_ laughed Lady, _**~but he is an old friend. His name is Ivor, and I'll introduce you to him soon, but first, let me introduce you to Idris, who was my special help.~**_

_"Idris?"_ queried Burnett, now feeling more confused, as there were only some ordinary truck standing between the engines, and he couldn't possibly imagine how _they'd_ be of "special" help to his friend, other than carrying stuff. _"Who's this Idris, and where is he?"_

Sir Topham, taking in the fact that the magical engine was obviously well again and was currently re-uniting herself with Burnett, made his way over to his own engine, Edward, and smiled as Thomas stepped down from his cab to greet him.

_"SIR TOPHAM!"_ the former engine called out loudly, his face beaming. _"WE DID IT! WE SAVED LADY, AND SHE'S GOT HER MAGIC BACK!"_

_"Yes, so I notice,"_ said Sir Topham. _"Tell me, Thomas, how are you feeling?"_ he then asked, mindful of the topic of his interrupted meeting.

_"I feel fine, Sir Topham,"_ replied Thomas, a look of confusion appearing on his face. _"I'm also happy and glad to be back here and I can't wait until Lady turns us all back into engines again!"_

_"I'm glad to hear it,"_ said Sir Topham, relieved. It seemed that whatever was affecting the former engines and wagons on Sodor hadn't affected the former blue tank engine. _"What about James?"_ he then asked. _"Is he feeling alright as well, do you know?"_

_"I believe so,"_ said Thomas, now looking rather concerned at his owner. _"I think he's really glad to be back home as well, but it's Jeanie who worries me, Sir Topham. She's not well at all, and I think it's only Lady who can help her! Idris has helped her a bit, but she still needs more help."_

_"Idris?"_ asked Sir Topham. _"Who's this Idris fellow, and what help did she need from him?"_ He then noticed two men he didn't know walking towards him, and as he turned to face them, he assumed that one of them was this Idris chap that Thomas had just mentioned, but then a shrill whooshing sound from Lady's direction startled him and he turned back round to see what had made the noise, not noticing the two men look up excitedly into the air above the magical engine.

He gasped in alarm when he saw Burnett quickly stepping back from Lady as a jet of white smoke shoot up out of her chimney stack and turn into a glowing red cloud. _That's odd,_ he thought to himself, as he'd never seen red smoke from a steam engine before, and he immediately thought something new had gone wrong with the magical engine, but what happened next was something he'd never have imagined, for the red cloud suddenly transformed itself into an actual _dragon_, and not only that, but the dragon, _a large red dragon,_ had actually been _inside_ Lady, and had managed to squeeze itself out through her narrow funnel and was now, unbelievingly, flying around in circles over the tracks next to the one Lady and the others were standing on!

Running quickly over to get in front of Lady to get a better view, he couldn't help but to just gape at what he was seeing, and he barely heard Thomas as the former engine ran up to him and say, _"_That's_ Idris, Sir Topham. He's a dragon!"_

ooo

_"Fuck me pink!"_ whispered Reg as he peered through the gates, catching the occasional glimpse of the magical creature as it flew about inside the station. Those bloody engines had brought back with them a real, honest-to-fuck, _dragon!_ _Tiberius_, he thought to himself, _will have a bloody fit when he hears about this!_

Reg desperately wanted to know what was going on inside the station, but there was no way on God's green Earth that he was going to get any nearer to a bloody dragon, no way at all, and, shaking with trepidation after what he'd just seen, he slowly made his way over to the telephone box just down the road.

ooo

_"Thomas!"_ James called urgently from inside Lady's cab. _"Help me with Jeanie!"_

Thomas turned from watching the flying dragon to see what was wrong, and saw his friend helping Jeanie over towards one of the platform benches. _"What's wrong with her?"_ he asked as he ran over.

_"She's feeling sick,"_ replied James, lowering Jeanie to a sitting position on the bench, _"and she said her head hurts. Can you fetch some water for her, please?"_

Thomas started towards the station café, but realised that it would no doubt be locked up for the night, and he turned instead for the ticket office, recalling seeing Sir Topham's secretary drinking from a cup when he'd been in there one time. He hoped she hadn't taken it home with her.

Whilst James was helplessly watching over Jeanie, Sir Topham was still watching the dragon as it flew about the station when, suddenly, it turned and glided towards the part of the platform where he was standing before gracefully landing only a couple of yards in front of him.

Though alarmed, the words "He's glorious" Sir Topham couldn't help thinking, but he also wasn't too sure about how safe he actually was with it standing so close to him, as the heat he could feel radiating from the creature's skin was almost unbearably hot, and he found himself unable to step back away from it. His thoughts then slowly tapered off as he found himself being drawn into the dragon's searing gaze, those coal-black eyes whose darkness suddenly overwhelmed him and he found himself floating inside a world of cold, black silence. The silence stretched on for what seemed an eternity when, all around him and, somehow, inside his very bones themselves, he heard, no, felt the most frightening sound he could ever imagine.

_**##HATT!##**_

The word, no, not word, sound filled the black void Sir Topham was floating in.

_**##I AM INSIDE YOUR MIND, HATT, AND YOU ARE INSIDE MINE. WE ARE ONE!## **_

It was as though everything Sir Topham had known was made of music, such sweet, pure music, and yet, so terrifying, and he felt every molecule, every atom of his body start to vibrate in synchronicity.

_**##I NEED TO KNOW YOUR TRUTH, HATT, BEFORE I DECIDE TO HELP YOU OR NOT. SHOW ME WHO YOU ARE, HATT!##**_

Somewhere, Sir Topham heard a woman start to scream, but before he could even think about that, he felt himself coming apart.

ooo

Shrieking in pure agony, Jeanie thought her heart was on fire as she ripped desperately at her clothes before managing to get at the paper tucked inside her bra and throwing it away from her.

James, startled out of his wits, saw the paper suddenly burst into flames before turning to ash on the ground near his feet and, as he turned to Jeanie, he saw her wrap her arms tightly around her chest and howl in pain. Panicking, he turned to Lady's engineer for help as the man cried out a half-strangled "Wha-?", and all James could do in response was to spread his arms out in a gesture of futility that showed clearly he didn't have a clue what to do.

It was at that moment that Thomas rushed out of the ticket office to see, on his right, Sir Topham and Idris both motionless and staring silently at each other, whilst, to his left, Burnett Stone was rushing over to where James was currently standing and wordlessly waving his arms about. Mr Percival was looking at James with a concerned expression on his face, and both Mr Jones and Mr Dinwiddy were crouching over a screaming Jeanie and trying to calm her down. He stared in horror at the young woman violently resisting the two men's attempts to placate her and, turning back to his right, he shouted, _"LADY! HELP HER!"_

ooo

Sir Topham thought that the dragon had spat the last word at him as he felt himself pulled apart into countless pieces, each piece containing a moment of his entire life, and he felt himself live through each and every one of those moments, act out each and every action he'd carried out, speak each and every word spoken by his past self, and think again every thought that had gone through his mind during each and every event he was now witnessing and re-living: the love he'd felt for his wife when he'd introduced her to Henry as he saw the look of surprise and wonder on her face at meeting a talking steam engine; the times when he'd interviewed would-be employees and wondered if they were the right sort of person for the job and if they were people that would care for his engine's welfare, and that most wonderful, magical moment when the engine his father had always comically referred to as "Thomas" had, driverless, rolled up to him one day and said "Hello!" before saying how pleased he was to meet his future owner.

He relived each and every joyous moment when he met a new engine for the first time, be it steam, diesel or electric, and each and every worrying moment when an engine had been damaged in an accident or collision of some sort. He remembered each and every time he'd been angry or cross with an engine that had done something wrong or misbehaved, and the guilt he'd then felt after punishing an engine for its bad behaviour, and the hope that that engine would understand why it had been punished, albeit fairly. He remembered each and every time he'd witnessed his father crying over the massacre wrought upon the railways by the ideas of the so-called "Doctor" Beeching and of the pain that those proposals had inflicted upon the lives of railway workers all over the country. He remembered again the bitter joy his father displayed when an engine that he'd managed to rescue from the death-flames of the oxy-acetylene burners of Barry Scrap Yards arrived at the sanctuary that was Sodor, and felt again his own joy when learning that one of his own engines had been successfully repaired after a crash or breakdown, a joy felt not for the fact that it was now productive, but that the engine itself was feeling well again.

He lived through, and wept again with sorrow at the recent passing of two of his engines, Molly and Neville, and he remembered the shame he'd felt for his grandfather's long-ago deeds after reading about them in the documents and letters passed down to him in the chest in his study, and he remembered again how sick inside he'd felt after learning the horrifying truth of the magical railway's origin, and the love he'd then felt for the engines and wagons under his control and helpless in their current plight, and when he felt he could bear no more of this, he felt every separate piece of himself suddenly pull towards each other, racing towards each other and joining together until, suddenly, he found himself once again standing on the platform and gazing into those silent, all-knowing, coal-black eyes of the dragon. As he stood there totally oblivious to all that was going on around him, captivated by those coal-black eyes, Sir Topham knew right then that he had been judged, and all he could do was to wait for his fate to be announced.

_**##HATT, YOU ARE NOT YOUR GRANDFATHER, AND IT IS RIGHT THAT I HELP YOU.##**_

Sir Topham almost collapsed back against the office wall, instantly alarmed to hear a woman screaming near him. Quickly, he turned his head to look and was shocked to see that it was Jeanie who was doing the screaming, and his blood turned cold.

Idris realised the trauma the young female was undergoing was a result of his foolishness, and he felt guilt rise within him as he realised he'd let his hatred of the Hatt bloodline get the better of him when he confronted the railway owner, and now it was she who was suffering because of him. The damage was done, now, and the bind-rune she'd been wearing was no more; the only thing he could do now for her was to move away from her and hope it would bring about some degree of relief to her, but, after retreating to the far end of the platform, her cries of pain still continued, and he looked towards the magical engine to see what action, if any, _she_ was taking to help the human child.

ooo

_**~Bring her to me!~**_ commanded Lady, and James, being nearer, quickly leant over the still-screaming Jeanie and scooped her up into his arms. As he stepped towards the magical engine, Lady then said, _**~Bring her into my cab, James.~**_

James did as the magical engine told him, holding tightly onto the struggling woman lest she hurt herself by knocking her flailing arms on the side of Lady's cab, and waited for his next instruction.

_**~James, I need you to cut one of her hands and put it inside my firebox whilst it's bleeding. Do it now!~**_

_"WHAT?"_ cried James, trying to make himself heard over Jeanie's screams, wondering why he'd just been asked to inflict even more injury to the young woman.

_**~If I am to help her, James, then my magic needs to be in contact with her blood.~ **_

_"How do I do that, Lady?"_ James asked, desperately, then, after what, to him and the others standing on the platform sounded like an audible sigh from the magical engine, they heard her call out, _**~IDRIS, COME HERE, NOW!~**_

_**# You know she could die should I do that, Lady.# **_

_**~I am aware of that, but it's the quickest way to help her!~**_

_**# Very well.# **_

The dragon then loped towards the magical engine, Jeanie's screams getting even louder with every step he made as the men on the platform were forced to cover their eyes until, after one final, fruitless attempt to escape her torment, Jeanie gave out a low-pitched keening wail before falling limp and silent in James' arms.

_"JEANIE!"_ he cried, fearing the worst, but felt relief flow through him when he then heard Lady say, ~She's fainted, James, she's not dead. Now, Thomas, come and help us. Lift her left hand up and hold it very still in front of Idris so that he can see the back of her hand. He'll know what to do next.~

James stepped to the edge of Lady's cab and turned slightly to present Jeanie's left side to Thomas. Thomas then lifted up her left arm and, holding it out whilst, at the same time, resting his right hand under Jeanie's to keep it still, held it out to Idris, then gasped in surprise as the dragon raised his right foreleg, stretched out his claw and extended one of his razor-sharp talons towards him. Idris then lightly stroked his talon against the back of Jeanie's hand, as though caressing it, before lowering his foreleg and retreating back to the end of the platform where he sat down on his haunches. Audible gasps came from Jones the Steam and Mr Dinwiddy as an almost three-inch long line of blood appeared on the pale skin of Jeanie's hand before running down to her fingertips and dripping onto the platform by Thomas' feet.

_**~James, lower her down so that you can put her cut hand into my firebox.~**_

_"You can't do that!"_ cried Sir Topham as he ran towards Lady's cab and the prone but bleeding Jeanie. _"She'll burn!"_

_**~Don't be alarmed, Sir Topham,~**_ said Lady authoritively. _**~This is Company Business!~**_ Then, in a soft and soothing tone, she added, _**~She won't burn. Trust me on this.~**_

As Sir Topham, Thomas and the others watched James bend down, the hatch to the magical engine's firebox slid open under Lady's control and the glow and heat from the burning coal inside briefly warmed the air around them before it suddenly turning cold as the fire's yellow glow turned into a bright white light, replacing all they could see inside the firebox. Crowded around the side of the engine's small cab, they watched in morbid fascination as James twisted himself to guide Jeanie's bloody hand into the firebox, and they saw it disappear into the white glow. Jeanie remained motionless in James' arms as watched for any reaction from her, and, despite expectation, no hint of burning flesh entered their nostrils as they'd feared, and they waited, not daring to speak as they each tried to make sense of what Lady was doing.

Then, Lady's voice snapped them out of their silent gaze when she said, ~By rights, she should have been conscious for this to work properly, and I hope she'll be alright. James, you can take her hand out now, and if you would find somewhere comfortable for her to sleep the night.~

_"How... how long will she sleep for, Lady?"_ asked Thomas.

_**~She'll sleep for several hours, Thomas,**_ replied Lady. _**~She's had a very nasty shock to her system and it will take a while for my magic to work its way through her.~**_

_"Bring her to the first-aid room, James,"_ said Sir Topham, then, feeling around inside his jacket pocket for his keys. _"I'll unlock it for you and turn the heating on and she can sleep there overnight, but I'll need one of you to watch over her. We'll have to bandage her hand, as well."_

_"I'll stay with her,"_ said James as he raised himself back up and carried the unconscious Jeanie behind Sir Topham. Glancing down to her cut hand, he noticed that the wound, though still fresh, had stopped bleeding and was now just a dark line against the lightness of her skin. _Cauterised,_ he thought to himself, wondering at the same time as to how he knew that particular word and where he'd heard it from.

ooo

Mr Percival, as Sir Topham's second-in-command, decided that he ought to bring some calm to the situation, and said, _"Thomas, maybe you should introduce Burnett and I to your new friends?"_

_"Oh, yes, of course, Mr Percival, sir!"_ replied Thomas quickly. _"Er, this is Mr Jones, Ivor's driver. Ivor's the green engine over there,"_ pointing to the small engine at the rear of the motley line of engines and wagons, _"and this is Mr Dinwiddy. He owns a gold mine,"_ gesturing to the very old-looking man standing next to the short engine driver.

_"It's a pleasure to meet you, gentlemen,"_ Mr Percival said politely to the two men. _"I'm Peregrine Percival, the manager of the narrow-gauge railway here on Sodor. The gentleman taking James and Jeanie to the first-aid room is Sir Topham Hatt, the owner of Sodor Railways, and this gentleman by my side here is Burnett Stone, Lady's driver, or engineer, as the Americans refer to engine drivers. Um, maybe when Sir Topham returns we could learn about how you all got together and saved Lady? Though I must ask, Thomas, how ever did you manage to get here? Sir Topham told us that the site of the magical buffers here on Sodor has been destroyed!"_

_"Lady said,"_ started Thomas excitedly, always eager to answer questions asked of him, _"that she could feel something wrong after we went through the portal in Shining Time, and she and Idris made a new portal for us to come through."_

_"Oh,"_ said Peregrine, then, _"and with whatever has befallen upon Miss Watkins for her to suffer as she was, that couldn't have been the only thing to cause you problems, I'm sure."_

_"I'll suggest to Sir Topham when he returns,"_ he continued, _"that we all gather in the station café, as his office is a bit too small to accommodate all of us comfortably. Until then, Mr Jones, maybe you would introduce me to that remarkable-looking engine of yours. Ivor, I believe Thomas said his name was? And Mr... Dinwiddy, yes? We have several sites here on Sodor where the Romans mined for gold. silver, lead, tin, even. Maybe you could tell me about your mine?"_

The three men, chatting together, then walked off down the platform towards where the little green engine was waiting patiently, leaving Thomas and Burnett to talk amongst themselves and with Lady while Sir Topham and James tended to Jeanie.

ooo

Furiously, Tiberius Hatt slammed down the phone and stormed over to the drinks cabinet in his hotel room, cursing loudly as he poured himself a large measure of brandy. What the bus driver had just told him of the night's events in Knapford had come as a great shock to him, and, as he swallowed the smooth, warm liquor, he wondered as to how this alarming piece of news was going to affect his plan to destroy Sodor Railways.

He hadn't been expecting anything like to this to happen, no indeed, for he'd believed Topham's plan to save the magical engine to had been foiled by that idiot diesel, but no, that bloody Thomas had to go and somehow end up on the other side of the planet where the magical engine was stuck in her cave and, not only that, but to revive the accursed engine and even bring it back here to Sodor as well! Slamming his now empty glass down on top of the cabinet, he poured himself another drink.

Despite the secret wonders of the magical railways that Tiberius Hatt had come across over the years, it was the fact that there was a fucking real-life _dragon_ involved, one that could actually bloody-well _fly_ was the most unexpected, and he was buggered if he could think of a way to deal with _that!_

ooOOoo


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter 28

Once Jeanie appeared to be sleeping peacefully on the cot in the first-aid room, and James had settled himself in a chair for the night, Sir Topham left to find out what the hell had just happened. His initial joy at seeing the engines return with Lady had been knocked aside by the sudden shock of seeing the dragon emerging from Lady's funnel, and the harrowing experience he'd then undergone when his very being was laid bare within the creature's soul-devouring eyes.

Neither the old documents nor the film reels he'd previously examined in his study had actually said or shown any evidence of such a creature as this, except for a glimpse of some sort of animal cage in one of the old films, but something had produced that blast of flame they all saw cremate the naked woman's body and again when it transformed the small steam engine into the magical creation now standing not far away from him.

As he pieced together certain cryptic comments his grandfather had made with reference to the expression "Coat of Blood" in the translation, now, it became clear in his mind that the people who had created the magical railway had used an actual, fire-breathing dragon, and from the heat he had felt emanating from the crea-, no, _Idris_, as Lady had called him, this dragon, _Was it the same one they'd used all those years ago?_ could breath out fire as well, and then, momentarily, he felt a rush of elation at the amazing things there were in this secret world and, despite the horror of the magical railway's instigation, how fortunate he was to be a part of it when it revealed such wonders to him! On the other hand, on thinking about what he'd learnt of how much Jeanie had suffered due to the imbalanced magic she'd received from him when he employed her, he felt quite sad for the young woman, and also, his shock at the action that Lady had taken in order to help her. He sighed deeply, for despite the many years he'd been involved with the magical railway, there was still so much he didn't know about it.

He remembered he had guests, and after Thomas had introduced him to the two welshmen, he invited them both to stay the overnight at Hatt Hall, seeing how late it was, as he doubted they'd want to set off back to North Wales at this time of night. The two men had appreciated the offer and, after accepting his invitation, thanked him for his kindness.

He also told Mr Jones, or Jones the Steam as the short driver said everyone back in Llaniog called him, that Ivor could stay overnight in the steamies' engine shed with Lady, Edward and Thomas. Henry and Percy would be there as well, though he reckoned that none of them would be getting much sleep that night as they'd all no doubt be excitedly chatting to each other! Sir Topham chuckled when he heard a very happy-sounding "prrp!" from the small engine.

Mr Jones asked if he could phone Dai Station to tell him that he and Ivor wouldn't be in in the morning, so Mr Percival took him to the office to use the phone in there, and Jones took the opportunity to also ring Mrs Jones to tell her that he'd put a bag of bones under the stairs for their dog as a treat from the butcher, but to only give him one so as to make them last!

As Sir Topham chatted with the little green engine and the rather excitable owner of a gold mine, he recalled that he'd heard Lady refer to the engine as an old friend, and after the astounding discovery that the little engine he was talking with was in fact the very first one to have been created all that time ago, it really struck him as how, to use a cliché, the magical railway really _did_ work in mysterious ways!

Another mystery for him was the case of the missing diesel, for when he asked Edward if they'd had any problems fitting him with the spare coupling rod that Diesel 10 had brought them and, by the way, where was he for Sir Topham to thank him, Edward was surprised, and said that he hadn't seen neither the diesel nor the replacement rod, indeed, his broken one was still hanging in the rope and chain sling that James had rigged up for him! It being on the track-side of the engine, Sir Topham obviously couldn't see it.

As to it breaking in the first place, when Edward explained how he'd carried on despite the aches and pains he'd been having from his soon-to-break coupling rod, Sir Topham managed to assure the old engine that he wasn't cross or angry with him. Indeed, he went on to stress to the blue engine that, like he himself was getting on in age, it was really important that any sign of impending ailments be reported as soon as possible, either to a doctor in his own case, or, as in Edward's, to the fitters. Edward blushed on hearing that and promised that he wouldn't ignore any more aches or pains ever again without reporting them.

ooo

Inside the café, he, Mr Percival and Burnett Stone keenly listened to Thomas, Mr Jones and the possibly insane Mr Dinwiddy, who was up and down most of the time helping himself to the sandwiches in the display near the counter, as they related all that had happened since Edward left Sodor for the trip to Glastonbury.

Sir Topham was relieved to know that the Shining Time stationmaster, Stacy Jones, was feeling quite well now, and reflected for a few moments on the loss of poor Mr Conductor.

Reflecting on it all, it sounded to Sir Topham that the roof-fall that ultimately led to the travellers finding themselves in Lady's cave was probably why Diesel 10, despite the message from Harold's pilot, hadn't been able to get through to the stranded engine. Thomas suggested that Diesel 10 had more than likely walked back to Pugh's Pit and was impatiently still waiting there, and that it was yet _another_ reason for him to pick on the steamies when he got back to Sodor, which prompted Sir Topham to make a note to phone the coal pit in the morning and make arrangements to get the errant diesel back to Sodor.

Overall, though, he believed it to be an incredible feat that the intrepid group of travellers had achieved, and he vowed to made sure he'd say so to Jeanie when she woke up, after, that is, he asked her to forgive him for what he'd unwittingly afflicted upon her, and part of his mind start to look for some way to reward her to make up for the trouble he'd unwittingly caused her. He felt humbled at being in the presence of such extraordinary people, and former engines, of course, and knew that he'd forever think of them as the people, and engines, that had saved his railway.

As far as saving the railway was concerned, though, when he'd earlier spoken with Lady about the ongoing problems with the former engines and wagons, she had regretfully informed him that the effort she'd put into bursting out of the portal from Shining Time had taken so much out of her that she'd need a couple of days rest before she had the strength again to restore them. During those two days, though, he and Mr Percival could use the down time to work out the logistics of the plan that she and Idris had come up with.

Feeling rather drained after the night's excitement, Sir Topham brought the ad-hoc meeting to a close and, after checking how Jeanie was and telling James how pleased and grateful he was for the former engine's hard work over the last few days, he drove Burnett and the two welshmen to Hatt Hall for a late-night supper in the Hall's kitchen. When he told Mr Jones that he'd hoped to have had a chat with Idris before leaving the station, and that there'd been no sign of the creature, Mr Jones suggested that he was probably sleeping inside either Ivor or Lady's firebox. That, of course, was the start of almost an hour spent listening to tales of the dragon's antics around Smoke Hill and Llaniog before he finally managed to get to bed and a much-needed sleep, what few hours there were left before he had to get back up again, that is.

ooo

Jeanie opened her eyes and, rapidly blinking against the bright fluorescent light shining down on her, she wondered where the hell she was. _God, my throat's sore! What's happened to me?_ The only thing that stilled her alarm once she got used to the light was seeing James sitting on a wooden chair at the foot of her bed, no, cot, going by the look of it. She saw they were in a narrow room just barely longer than the cot she was lying on, and only just wide enough for someone to squeeze past the back of James' seat to get to what, above a small, white porcelain sink, looked to be a medical cabinet that was fixed to the wall at head height, judging from the packs of bandages and other medical bits and pieces she could see inside it, and she wondered why she was there. A clock on the wall beside a window with its blinds drawn showed it to be almost half past seven, and she couldn't see outside. {_It's the first-aid room at Knapford Station.}_ _When can I go home?_

After a moment, she realised that she was feeling a damn-sight better than she was last night when they were travelling back to Knapford. Slowly, she began to recall the night's events and that she'd been feeling sick inside Lady's cab, but things after that were, what, blurred? She couldn't remember much of what happened afterwards, but she did remember almost ripping her top off for some reason, and that was it, nothing else until waking up just now.

She noticed then that her mind was a lot quieter than it had been over the last few days, and the throbbing pressure that had been driving her almost into tears was no longer there. On top of that, when she thought her thoughts, it was like they were flicking from one side of her brain to the other! She knew she had to get up and ready herself for work, but, at the same time, there was nothing she wanted more than to go and see her sister, have a cup of tea and a good natter with her before putting her feet up after all she'd been through just recently. Realising just then that the counter-thoughts, as she'd started calling them, were the same as the ones she'd been having before, but without the pain and pressure that always accompanied them, she wondered why, and then she noticed the bandage around her left hand. "What the fuck?" she asked, then, "How long have I been sleeping, James, and what's this?" as she held up her left hand.

_"You've been asleep most of the night, Jeanie,"_ he replied. _"How are you feeling now?"_

_"I... I don't feel sick now,"_ she said, _"and my headache's gone."_

_"You were quick ill last night,"_ continued James, _"and you were in a lot of pain so Lady had to use her magic to make you well again."_

Jeanie gaped open-mouthed at James. She certainly didn't remember _that_! _So THAT'S why my head feels better,_ she thought to herself. _"I... I remember feeling bad in Lady's cab, but... after that... I don't know, I can't remember properly. But what about my hand? What did I do to it? I can't feel a bruise or anything, and it doesn't hurt when I do this..."_ she added, studying her hand as she turned it over in front of her.

_"Idris had to cut it with his claw so that when it was bleeding I put it inside Lady's firebox for her magic to work on you,"_ said James matter-of-factly.

_"WHAT?"_ shrieked Jeanie, now rapidly turning her hand back and fore, staring at her fingertips poking out from underneath the bandage. _"WHAT THE FUCK D'YOU DO _THAT_ FOR, JAMES?"_ {_It was so the railway magic would work.}_ _"YOU COULD HAVE BURNT MY FUCKING ARM OFF! JESUS!"_ She wondered why, if that was the case, the parts of her fingers she _could_ see weren't all burnt or charred.

Apparently not affected by the young woman's shouting, James calmly replied, _"Her fire changed into a bright glow and went very cold. I think it's the way her magic works. She said that her magic had to be in contact with your blood for it to work. She also said that you had to be awake for it to work properly, but you were unconscious. Did it work for you, Jeanie? Are you better now?"_

_"I... I don't know, James, I... I think I am, I... just don't know!"_ {_He's right. It's how the railway magic works, through contact with blood.}__ "My head feels a lot better that what it was, but... I don't know. I'm not feeling like I was, and... and my thinking's still all over the place! It's still like there's two me's in there but they're not shouting any more, thank fuck. Maybe... maybe it has worked, I think, but I can't tell for sure yet."_

She shut her eyes then, basking in the relief of having a relatively quiet mind. _"You won't believe how nice it feels not to hear all that shouting again!"_

_"Shouting?"_ queried James, looking puzzled at the smiling young woman. _"What do you mean? Who was shouting?"_

_"It's... it's the way my brain was working,"_ she said, opening her eyes again and looking at him. _"Before, when I was really bad, it was like there was one me saying one thing, and another me saying something else, but they were both shouting and it was so loud inside my head that it really hurt, you know? And it was all pressing in on my brain, squeezing it, like."_

James gave a soft laugh, then, looking rather grim, said, _"I know my head used to hurt when I was still an engine and one of those dirty diesels would sneak up behind me and blast his air horn at me. It affected my hearing as well as making my panels vibrate! They were so loud sometimes that I thought all my screws would come loose and fall onto the sleepers!"_

Jeanie chuckled, then asked him, _"Was there anyone here last night when we got back?"_

_"Yes,"_ said James. _"Sir Topham was here with Mr Percival and Burnett Stone, and after Lady helped you, Sir Topham said for me to stay here with you."_

_"Th-thank you, James,"_ Jeanie mumbled, _"That was very kind of you. You... you must be ever so tired. I-I'm sorry for putting you to so much trouble!"_

_"It's alright, Jeanie,"_ James replied cheerfully. _"I managed to sleep on this chair for a few hours, but I woke up when Sir Topham came in to check on you earlier this morning."_

Jeanie smiled, picturing the sleeping former engine nodding off on the wooden seat, then she sat up. {_Better get up for work, now. Sir Topham will be expecting you.}__ Oh, I could do with something to eat!_ She got up from the cot and, once she'd found her shoes where they'd been tucked out of the way below the cot, spent a few moments straightening her clothes before squeezing past James and rinsing her face in the sink. As she squeezed back again to go out the door, she said, _"I hope the café's open, 'cause I'm absolutely starving! You coming, James?"_ she then asked as she opened the door to go out.

ooo

Sounds began to emerge from the steamies' engine shed at Tidmouth Sheds as the engines and former engines woke up. They'd talked together for quite a while last night before going to sleep, and now, in the early-morning dimness of late-November as grey clouds gathered in the sky above to block out the late-rising sun, the former engines were still showing signs of tiredness as they grumbled and rubbed at their eyes.

_"I've only had three hours sleep!"_ moaned Percy, trying hard to stifle a yawn.

_"It's your own fault, Percy,"_ said Henry, stretching in order to get some life back in his limbs. _"You were the one who kept asking Thomas questions all night!"_

_"That's because I'm glad he's back,"_ said Percy indignantly. _"I missed him!"_

_"And I'm glad to be back, too,"_ said Thomas as he went over to check on Ivor's fire, _"and there were many times when I thought I'd never get back here, I can tell you!"_

_**~Good morning, everyone,~**_ said Lady.

_"Good morning to you, Lady,"_ chorused the former engines.

_**~Good morning, Lady,~**_ said Edward.

_"Prp!"_

_"And to you, too, Ivor,"_ said Thomas as he stepped up into the engine's small cab. _"I'll get your fire up nice and hot ready for when Mr Jones gets here."_

_"prrp"_

_"Of course I don't mind,"_ replied Thomas, smiling. _"We all look after each other here on Sodor, well, we steamies do, that is."_

_**~Henry,~**_ said Lady, _**~I won't be needing Idris to boost my magic any more today. I just need to rest it. I'll be taking Edward over to Crovan's Gate later on, so I'd appreciate it if you would see to my fire for me?~**_

_"Yes, of course, Lady,"_ said Henry. "_It'll give me something useful to do instead of just sitting around."_

_"Is Edward going to be repaired?"_ asked Percy, hoping for his old friend to be back up and running again.

_**~Sir Topham will be ordering a new coupling rod for him from the foundry, and I need to speak with Mr Harrington at the repair works regarding Molly and Neville, so I'll be gone for most of the day. Burnett wants to take me, but he won't be able to manage on his own with an injured arm, so, Percy, I'll be needing someone who's not big and tall like Henry to be my fireman. Would you like to be him?~**_

_"Ooh! Yes, please, Lady,"_ said Percy as a big grin spread across his face. _"That means I'll be really useful, too. Sir Topham WILL be pleased with me!"_

_"So, Henry,"_ Thomas called out from Ivor's cab, _"Where's your little friend got to these days?"_

_"Tim?"_ Henry looked round inside the engine shed for a moment, and, not seeing the young boy anywhere, replied, _"Hmm, I don't know, Thomas. He was here last night when you all turned up, but it looks like he's slipped off somewhere. I'd have thought he'd have been thrilled to see Lady here. Maybe he'll turn up later."_

_"I saw him go out through the side door as they were approaching,"_ said Percy. _"He looked a bit scared, if you ask me!"_

_"What's he got to be scared of?"_ asked Henry. _"Seeing Lady again is a wonderful thing, not something to be frightened of! I wonder what got into him for him to be scared of her?"_

But the question remained unanswered, for just then, Idris suddenly emerged from Lady's funnel and, after an "Oh-er!" from Percy and a "My word!" from Henry, the dragon circled round above their heads and landed on one of the tracks just inside the entrance to the shed.

_**# Lady, I am leaving to see Olwen and the children. I will be back in two days. Good morning to you, Ivor. How are you finding it here?# **_

_"PrrpRp!"_

_**# I am pleased for you. Once the engines have been restored, I'm sure one of them will be only too pleased to take you back home!# **_

_"PRP!"_

_**# Yes, I am looking forward to things being back to normal as well.# **_

_"Prrp?"_

_**# Yes, Ivor, I will tell Dai Station not to worry about you!# **_

The former engines watched as Idris then took a few steps out of the shed, unfurl his wings and, with a mighty beat, soar up into the air until he become too small for them to see. The displaced air from where he'd launched himself caused such a bang that Percy actually jumped a little bit in fright. Some of the ballast stones from around the dragon were even lifted up into the air as well before clattering back down to the ground.

_"He's a lot faster than Harold,"_ said Henry, peering up amongst the clouds. _"How long will it take him to get home, I wonder?"_

_"It's not that far from here as the, er, dragon flies,"_ said Thomas, chuckling, _"so I doubt it'll take him THAT long."_

_"It's a pity Gordon's not here to see him,"_ said Percy. _"He'll be so jealous when we tell him we've seen a real-live dragon, and it flew!"_

_"Where is Gordon, anyway?"_ Thomas asked him.

_"Sir Topham said that he's staying over at Crovan's Gate with Victor,"_ answered Henry. _"Apparently, he hasn't been himself since Molly and Neville died."_

_"Oh,"_ said Thomas, wondering just how much the death of the two engines had affected his big, blue friend.

_**~Idris does that just to show off,~**_ said Lady. _**~He's a bit annoyed that I told scolded him for that little game he played last night with Sir Topham, and hurting Miss Watkins with the magic he used.~**_

_"H-h-how did he h-h-hurt her?"_ asked Percy nervously, thinking of all the dreadful things he could remember about what he'd heard from stories about dragons.

_**~Her railway magic wasn't settled right, and the magic he used last night affected her very badly, so I had to heal her with my own magic. I'd be grateful if you all could keep an eye on her over the next few days and don't bother her too much. She needs time to recover and I don't want her getting upset again.~**_

The former engines agreed to Lady's request and, once the two engines' fires were up and they'd bade farewell and good luck to Edward, rode in their cabs over to Knapford Station.

ooo

The cup of tea Jeanie had not long drank seemed to churn in her stomach as she put her hand to the ticket-office door. _I'd rather go home. __You have duties to carry out.__ I want to go to Gem's and sleep; I haven't seen her for nearly a week! __You have work to do here!_

She pushed the door open and went in, smiling sheepishly at the woman already sitting inside before giving her a faltering, _"G-good morning, Debra. You won't believe how nice it is to see you again! Um, is , er, Sir Topham in?"_

_"Oh, Jeanie! Hya! Welcome back!"_ replied Debra joyously. _"Yes, he's in, you can go straight in. How are you feeling? Sir Topham told me that you'd been very ill?"_ and with a look of concern, she then got up and gave the young woman a light hug before stepping back to her seat.

_"Er, I'm feeling okay just now, thank you, Debra,"_ said Jeanie. _"I, er, just want to pop in and find out what he wants me to do today, you know?"_

_"He's not on the phone,"_ said Debra glancing at the switchboard, _"so, yes, you can go on in, dear."_

Jeanie smiled back at her and went up to the door, gave it a couple of soft knocks and waited. _"Come in,"_ she heard Sir Topham say, and she slowly opened the door.

_"Ah, Jeanie,"_ said Sir Topham, rising from his seat and making his way over to her. _"How are you feeling? Any pain? How's your hand?"_ he asked concernedly and gesturing to a chair near his desk before closing the door behind her.

Sir Topham then returned to his desk but, instead of sitting back down, he stood beside it, his head lowered as he faced the young woman seated just in front of him. After a few moments of silence while Jeanie wondered what was going on, he said, _"Miss Watkins, Jeanie... I wish to apologise to you for the pain and hardship you've been going through. I... I didn't realise when I asked you to work for me that... that on your acceptance, only a part of the railway magic was passed on to you, and for that, I'm deeply, deeply sorry, and can only ask if you would forgive me for my error of judgement."_

Jeanie wasn't going to bring the matter up, and it had come as rather a surprise to her when Sir Topham had started explaining what had caused her to be so ill. She'd already been told all this by Idris, but to see such a well-respected and high-born person such as him looking so contrite as he waited for her to speak, well, she was quite at a loss what to say.

_Huh! He's saying sorry for putting me through hell! About bloody time, too! {__It wasn't his fault, he didn't know.}__ Maybe I should just tell him to stuff it and hand my notice in! {__But you're an employee of the Company, and should respect what Sir Topham has to say to you.}__ I... I want leave all this, but I want to see the talking engines, and I can't do that if I resign. What will happen to the railway magic inside me then? "Um,"_ Jeanie started, _"I... I kind of understand how it happened, Sir Topham. Idris explained to me, you see, so... so I suppose it wasn't really your fault it happened, it... it just did. Maybe you didn't know and it was just one of those things? Anyway, er, yes, of course I forgive you."_ {_KNOW YOUR PLACE!}__ "Oh, gosh, I'm sorry, Sir Topham,"_ she then gushed apologetically, _"I didn't mean to say that! Not the forgive part, no, I did mean that, no, the... the, oh, I don't know what I meant!"_ and put her face in her hands with a small moan of anguish. _"I... I need to go home to think about all this!"_

Sir Topham, upset at the young woman's discomfort, knelt down beside her and, gingerly, not wanting to make it seem as what he was about to do could in any way be called "inappropriate", what with all the equality in the workplace laws that the government was coming out with, placed one hand lightly on her shoulder whilst gently prising one of her arms away from her face with the other. _"Jeanie,"_ he said quietly, _"don't be upset about it, it's all right. I did you a great wrong and... and I'm trying to put it right again. Look, I'll get Debra to make us a nice cup of tea and then I'll get one of the staff to run you over to your sister's, yes? Take a couple of days off, Jeanie, and get some rest. There's nothing happening here until Lady's got her strength back, anyway, and then you come back in two days time and we'll have a chat then, yes? Er, I've taken the liberty of having Collins bring your car over from Hatt Hall as I wasn't sure where you intended staying tonight. I hope you don't mind."_

He then heard a couple of muffled sniffs and a whispered, _"Tha-that's okay, Sir, and... and thank you!"_ and, after slowly rising getting back up, went out to ask Debra to make two cups of tea.

ooo

Lady and Ivor puffed into Knapford Station and rolled to a halt alongside the ticket-office just as Sir Topham and Jeanie came out. With them was a smartly-dressed man whom Lady didn't know.

_**~Good morning, Sir Topham. Good morning, Jeanie, how are you feeling?~**_ She'd seen the look of concern on Sir Topham's face and how upset the young woman appeared, and had feared for the worst.

_"Good morning, Lady,"_ Sir Topham said back. _"Jeanie's taking a couple of days off for a break and Collins, here, my butler, is driving her to her sister's home. It'll be good for her to see someone close to her after what she's been through lately."_

Lady saw Jeanie give her a half-smile as their eyes made contact, and she asked the young woman, _**~Are you alright, Jeanie? I hope my magic has been of some help to you?~**_

Jeanie nodded her head slowly, and said, _"It's a lot quieter up there now, Lady, if you know what I mean? It... it's still a bit jumbled up, but nothing like what it was."_

_**~That's good to hear, Jeanie. Can you come into my cab, please, Jeanie? I need to speak privately to you.~**_

A look of surprise appeared on Jeanie's face but, nodding her agreement, she made her way over to the magical engine, and, after Percy and Henry came out to make room for her, she carefully stepped inside, looking down at the firebox where James had put here bandaged hand. Despite the heat the hot fire was giving out, she shivered.

_**Jeanie, the magic I have given you was in order to right a wrong, but it comes with a cost not only to you, but to me as well. I can sense something definitely wrong with your connection to the railway magic and it is as I feared and have already spoken to you of. The railway magic hasn't joined fully with you because of the two aspects being given to you at different times. Although you will still be able to see the engines' faces and speak with them, you will also still have your free will. That means that, unlike with the other railway staff, the railway magic cannot stop you from speaking to anyone about the what you know of it. You are a unique case, young woman, and I have to place my trust in you that you will not speak of the magical railways with outsiders, not even with members of your family. Can I ask that of you, Jeanie? **_

_"What...sorry!"_ said Jeanie, realising that she didn't need to speak out loud, and only had to think the words she wanted Lady to hear. _'What will happen to me if I DID say something, say, to my sister?'_

_**In a situation like that, Miss Watkins, what you have been given, CAN be taken back, and the consequences for you would be most severe!**_

_Is she fucking threatening me__? {It's a condition you agreed to when you said yes to Sir Topham's offer of a job.}__ She's got no right to say things like that to me. I should tell them all to stuff their fucking railway magic and get on with my life away from all this crap! {__You won't do that, you want to be a part of all of this and to serve Sir Topham, and you want to meet the talking engines.}__ Yeah, but I don't have to take this kind of shit! _

Jeanie was confused. Part of her wanted to wanted to see the wonders of this new world she was in, and part of her wanted to do nothing more than to walk away from it. There was yet another part of her that felt she should just knuckle down and get on with her work, and there was yet _another_ part of her that was listening to everything she was thinking and trying to make the best choice out of so many opposing choices. {_Sir Topham has been kind enough to give you some time off. __Use it wisely and think over what you want from this. Do you want to suffer, or to serve?}_

_'No-one would believe me if I did say anything, Lady. I couldn't even believe it myself at first, and I _was_ a staff member! No, the magical railway is safe with me, Lady. I won't tell anyone. They'd think I was crazy if I went round saying that engines could talk and lock me up!'_

ooo

Jeanie waved goodbye to Sir Topham's butler as he turned up the collar of his coat against the cool air before setting off down the road. The dark clouds overhead were threatening a downpour was on its way and Jeanie suddenly felt sorry for the man as he walked into the distance. It wasn't _that_ far to the railway station, and she hoped he'd get there before it rained, or didn't get _too_ wet if it did start to pour.

Sighing, she thought about her luggage in the boot of her car and her bandaged hand, and decided to leave it in the car; she'd ask Gemma to carry it in for her. She then turned to the front door of her sister's terraced house, gave a "knockety-knock-knock" on the door and tried the handle to see if it was locked. She hadn't phoned before leaving the railway station and hoped that she was in. The door opened and Jeanie stepped into the hallway, calling out, _"Gemma? It's me-ee!"_

Footsteps sounded on the landing above her head just before her sister appeared at the top of the stairs. _"Well, well! Look what the cat's dragged in!"_ she drawled as she came down with a wide grin on her face before it suddenly turned into a look of concern. _"Jeanie, love, what's wrong? They haven't sacked you already, have they? I don't know why you went to work for them in the first place! Come in the kitchen, sweetie, and I'll make us a cup of tea. What on Earth have you done to your hand?"_

_"I... I cut it on something sharp. It... it was an accident,"_ said Jeanie as she closed the front door before following her sister down the long, narrow hallway.

The house that her sister Gemma lived in was one she rented from one of Sodor's housing associations, easily affordable for her as she had a well-paid job working for a solicitor in Knapford. The wall dividing the downstairs front and back rooms had been knocked down to make a single, long lounge, with a kitchen and utility room down the hallway at the back of the house. With a bathroom and two bedrooms upstairs, one of which was done up as a guest room for the occasional friend, or family member, that stayed over, it wasn't too big a place for just one person to live in.

_"Still on your own, then?"_ Jeanie called after her as she heard Gemma fill the kettle with water.

_"I've been seeing a guy for about a month, now,"_ her sister replied, smirking. _"I was going to tell you about him last week, but you started that job and then fell off the face of the planet. What the hell were you doing, Jeanie? You spent all that time in uni doing arts and design and then you go and start working for the railway company! I always thought you'd have a job sitting in a drawing-room for some high-class advertising company! So, driven any trains yet?"_ but, seeing the red-rimmed eyes and look of worry on her sister's face alarmed her. _"So, you phone me to say you've taken someone to the hospital, then to tell me you're starting work with Sodor Railway, then you ring me to say your spending the night at Sir Whats-his-name's stately mansion, then to say you're going away for a few days. Finally, you show up her looking like the world's about to end. Talk to me, Jeanie. What's the matter?"_

Although Jeanie was several years younger than her half-sister, she was a head taller, but still "looked up" to her. Gemma was known as the "wise-one" of the Watkins children and had always been there for her younger half-siblings, and Jeanie suddenly stepped forward with her arms outspread, wrapping them around Gemma. The older woman reciprocated in kind, hearing a muffled "I... I've m-m-missed you!" amongst the sobs coming from her younger half-sister.

_"I... I was on my way here and I stopped to h-h-help someone who'd b-been in an accident. I g-g-got him to the h-hospital and... and when I was there I h-h-happened to bump into that rich guy who owns S-s-sodor Railways. We got t-t-talking and he s-s-said that he had a j-j-job g-going for a personal ass-ss-sitant, so I thought 'Why not have a g-g-go!'. Anyway, h-he offered me the job and I started that d-d-day. Let me sit down, Gem, I'll feel better then."_

Gemma helped Jeanie to sit at the small kitchen table and finished pouring the tea now that the kettle had boiled. _"Go on,"_ she prompted.

_"Well,"_ said Jeanie, despite the occasional sniffle, _"you know h-h-how there's no trains running cause of this, er, signalling problem, yeah? Well, it t-t-turned out that there was one of his engines still running, and-, ooh, thanks!"_

Wrapping her hands around the hot cup, she continued, _"Where was I? Ah, yeah, well, they needed a... a special part from this place near Bristol, and so I went with some others to go and get it, but we got, er, diverted on the way back and we had to all the way around Wales and there were times when I thought we'd never get back to Sodor!"_

_"That's a bit off, don't you think?"_ said Gemma, _"I mean, sending you to the mainland and all the way to Bristol? Couldn't they have had it delivered to Sodor?"_

_"Er, no,"_ replied Jeanie. _"It had to fit in a certain wagon, you know, one of those specially-built trucks they use to carry awkwardly-shaped things on the rail with, and the only one available was here on Sodor."_

_"Well, I think they're bastards for doing that to you, Jeanie. I mean, on your first day or whenever it was! Couldn't they have sent someone else?"_

_"I-I wanted to go for the experience,"_ said Jeanie, _"besides, I was getting friendly with one of the, er, others who went."_

_"Oh, aye?"_ said Gemma teasingly, thinking to cheer up her sister, _"Is he nice?"_

_"It's nothing like THAT!"_ said Jeanie looking aghast. _"He's WAY too old for me. No, he was teaching me a lot about how steam engines work and that sort of thing."_

_"What do you mean 'that sort of thing'? Are you SURE it's not some hunky train driver you had the hots for and you've been dumped and that's why you're all upset?"_

_"No,"_ said Jeanie, shaking her head. _"It's nothing like that at all. Everyone there's all... quite old, anyway. No, I... I was just feeling stressed out after all the pressure and being stuck away from home for so long, and now the boss has given me a couple of days off to rest."_

_"Well, he doesn't sound too bad, then, if he's willing to do that for you, no?"_

_"No,"_ agreed Jeanie. _"In fact, he apologised to me for... for what he did and how it affected me."_

_"Good,"_ said Gemma, _"Now drink your tea, it's going cold! So, what do you do there other than gallivant all around the country, then?"_

_"Well, when I started, he introduced me to the other... staff members and I got to see a lot of the, er, engines they had, then... then Sir Topham found out that two of his, er, staff had died in, er, in an accident. Everyone was very sad when they heard that. Molly and Neville, their names were."_

_"Oh,"_ said Gemma. _"There was nothing about that in the local paper!"_

_"It was on another part of the island,"_ said Jeanie.

_"Oh. So, how come you got to live it up at his posh mansion, eh?"_

_"Things got so busy and drawn out trying to sort out getting that, er, special part thingy that the directors had a meeting later at Hatt Hall. That's where my car was and I ended up staying there for the night. I got to look at some of the old paperwork about the railway. It was quite fascinating, and then, the following day, we left to get that part."_

_"What were the directors like, then? All stuffed shirts and suits, smoking big cigars and drinking brandy while they ate their caviar, yeah?"_

Jeanie laughed, remembering the word-war two of the managers had had. _"No, they weren't anything like that at all, well, one of them was quite posh and all that, but he was just one of the quarry managers, although he was, like, Sir Topham's deputy or whatever. The others were just ordinary guys. Sir Topham was, like, posh as well, but he was a down-to-earth guy as well, you know? Ooh, did you know he can drive engines himself? I'd never had guessed it!"_

_"Is he married? You never know, Jeanie, he could be your sugar-daddy!" _

_"Fuck off!"_ scoffed Jeanie, looking quite affronted at her grinning sister. _"He's in his sixties at least, and he's married."_

_"What's his wife like? Is she some Lady-of-the-Manor type that spends all day ringing for her butler?"_

_"God, no,"_ said Jeanie. _"She's very nice. She's quite ordinary, and she like watching the telly! When I was there that night, we had a good laugh putting different actors' names to all the engines! There's nothing stuck up about her, and, talking of butlers..."_ Jeanie put on a 'stuck-up' face, and said in a mock-posh accent, _"Would you be so kind, Gemma, my dear, as to pass me some biscuits?"_

_"But, of course, my lady,"_ replied Gemma in an equally posh tone as she got up to fetch the biscuit tin from a cupboard across the kitchen and placed it upon the table in front of her, bowing graciously. _"Here you are, my lady. Will that be all, my lady?"_

_"That will be all, Gemma, dear. You may take the rest of the day off, and don't forget to whip the kitchen boy on your way out!"_

_"But of course, my lady!"_

The two sisters laughed at their charade and Gemma, looking at the look of amusement on Jeanie's face, said, _"About time you started smiling. Feeling better now?"_

_"Yeah, much better."_ Indeed, the brief moment of hilarity had lifted her spirits tremendously, but then suddenly, they crashed to the ground when her sister asked, _"What do you mean 'putting actors' names to all the engines'? Engines aren't people!"_

_Fuck!_ Jeanie realised just how difficult it was to keep such a big thing as the magical railway a secret, especially if she ever got drunk amongst her friends and just started blurting things out. _"Of course they're not people!"_ she said, looking her sister as though she'd just said something quite ridiculous. _"What I meant was that we were matching people to the engines' names. Sodor Railway has this, er, tradition that they give all their engines names like Charlie or Bill or Thomas, and we made up a game trying to think of actors with the same names, that's all. Fuck, Gemma, you have some silly ideas sometimes!"_

_"Hmmph!"_ laughed Gemma. _"It'd be like that 'Transformers' cartoon. Just imagine this train racing along the track when, all of a sudden, it transforms into a giant robot and starts fighting with another transformer, one of those lorries, and everyone running away in panic! It would be brilliant!"_

_"Yeah,"_ said Jeanie, smiling back at her sister and feeling somewhat relieved. _"Wouldn't it just! Anyway, like I said, Sir Topham apologised to me this morning for causing me all that stress and then we had a cup of tea and he mentioned that, if I wanted, there were courses I could go on, business courses and things where I can learn about the railways and public transport and what-have-you. I'm to tell him when I go back in a few days if I still want to work for him."_

Gemma finished the rest of her own tea and, as she picked up Jeanie's cup to put them both in the sink, she said, _"Good, nothing too serious, then, and all fun and games at the end. Gawd, when I saw you in the hall and the look on your face, I thought someone you'd been sacked!"_

_"No, just... just worn out. I had a bad headache last night and, er, travelling sickness. I just wanted to see a familiar face."_

_"Oh. Well?"_ said Gemma. _"Are you going to stay there?"_

_"I don't know, Gem,"_ said Jeanie morosely. _"I just don't know."_

_"Well, sis, whatever you decide,"_ said Gemma as she stepped behind her and planted a kiss on top of her head, _"let's get your room sorted out and then we'll go and do some serious shopping to cheer you up even more!"_

ooo

The plan, once Lady was back to her full strength and Idris had returned, was to restore the engines during the middle of the night so as not to attract any unwanted attention from member of the public, and Sir Topham and Mr Percival spent all day working out timings and sticking pins on a large map of Sodor that they'd stuck up on a wall in Sir Topham's office, and phoning the coach companies that had taken the former engines to the camp sites dotted around Sodor. Next to the map were several lists containing the names and numbers of all the affected rolling stock, and they knew that it would be an immense operation that required perfect timing not only on their part, but the coach companies as well to make sure that each and every one of them was accounted for, after all, an engine or wagon suddenly appearing where it oughtn't be would certainly take some explaining! Sir Topham knew the coach firms would charge him a hefty price for what he required of them, but it would have to be done.

As he went to bed that night, Sir Topham thought to himself, one day spent planning, tomorrow for final preparation and moving them all, and soon, he'd have his railway back. Not only that, he thought, but he wouldn't have to worry about any more threats from his half-brother, Tiberius!

ooo

It was about quarter to four in the morning when Gemma was woken up by the most blood-curdling scream she'd ever heard, and rushed to her sister's bedroom to find out what the hell was happening to her.

ooOOoo

Author's Note: I've tried to shown the two different thought processes going through Jeanie's mind. Please let me know if it works for you as the reader.


	29. Chapter 29

Author's note: I've altered the way I'm showing the railway magic's "voice" inside Jeanie's head by emboldening it.

Chapter 29

Gemma flicked on the landing light as she rushed to Jeanie's bedroom, and saw her sister writhing violently and muttering some form of incoherent protest about something in her sleep. Her quilt had long since been kicked off by her treading feet and was bunched up on the floor in between her bed and the far wall. She'd gone to bed in her underwear and, Gemma thought to herself, must be freezing cold!

_"JEANIE, IT'S ME, GEMMA! IT'S ALL RIGHT!"_ she called out as she sat down on the bed beside her, wrapping her arms around her to try and calm her down, fending off Jeanie's flailing arms as she did so. She let out a pained "Oof!" when an errant elbow banged sharply against the side of her head, then she tried some softer cries of "Jeanie, wake up! You're safe! I'm here for you!", which competed against the rapid gasps of her now-panicking sister as she, in her nightmare, perceived some form of physical entrapment, increasing her need to escape whatever peril she was dreaming of.

Then she had to call out her sister's name several times as she struggled to hold on to Jeanie before she finally began to calm down, tentatively releasing her hold on her and softly stroking her forehead as she whispered that it was okay and the nightmare was over. Instead of waking up, though, Jeanie turned over onto her side, away from her and the light shining in from the landing, curling up into a ball and murmuring sadly that she was too young to die. Her breathing, now sounding more regular, did little to salve Gemma's concern for her as she pondered over what her sister just said about dying. _Dear_ _God, _she thought to herself, _What the hell's she been doing with herself?_

Looking down at her now-sleeping sister, Gemma wondered if she ought to rouse her from her sleep to check that she was actually okay, but then she recalled hearing somewhere that waking up somebody from a nightmare was a really bad thing to do, _or was that sleepwalking?_ she asked herself. Deciding to do nothing but just sit there for a moment and watch in case she started up again, she felt somewhat relieved as her sister's breathing remained steady. She tried to recall exactly what she'd had been saying, but couldn't make any sense of it. Believing the episode to be over, she got up and went around the side of the bed to pick up the quilt and cover her over so she wouldn't get cold as she slept.

Then, sighing to herself, she then went back out onto the landing, her hand poised for a few moments over the light switch as she debated whether or not to leave the light on in case her sister woke up, but switched it off before going back into Jeanie's room and climbing into bed next to her. It was a single-size bed and so she carefully aligned herself against her sister's curled-up form, reaching an arm over until she found her sister's un-bandaged hand and held onto it. She'd wait until after breakfast before questioning her about her nightmare, and so closed her eyes to try and get back to sleep, wondering at the same time if the poor girl had maybe been involved in some sort of near-fatal accident or something in work, and if she had been having other nightmares before this?

Gemma was only four-years old when her mother had been knocked down and killed by a car whilst crossing the road, and when her widowed daddy had re-married not long after, it had taken her a while before she began to accept her "new" mammy. When Jeanie's elder brother, then Jeanie and then her younger brother had come along, each new addition had helped to strengthen that developing bond, but she had never forgotten her "first" mother, and, later, as she grew into her teens, still helping to bring up her three step-siblings, her relationship with them became more maternal than fraternal, and she began to think of _herself_ as their mother in place of the one that had "gone to live in the sky", as her father had told her at the funeral when she was younger.

That bond was further strengthened when her step-mother broke her ankle after falling off a ladder whilst cleaning the upstairs windows, and her father asked her to help him with the threesome until her foot was better, and, since then, she was often the one they turned to for help or advice as they grew up. Unfortunately, this led to arguments between her and her step-mother, ending up with her looking to leave home as soon as she was able.

After leaving school, the job she found in a solicitor's office in Knapford, and still enjoyed, paid well enough that after a couple of years she had saved enough to rent the house she was currently living in, and, with the second bedroom done up for guests, her sister and two brothers could take it in turns to visit for a week or so, and this time, it was Jeanie's turn to stay with her. However, as the last few minutes had proved, her younger sister was in dire need of help, and Gemma's last thought before falling asleep herself was that she hoped, come morning, Jeanie would open up and tell her what was worrying her and why on earth had she taken a job in an industry that she knew absolutely nothing about!

ooo

Hiding inside the old weighbridge shed, the young boy was huddled in a corner behind some musty-smelling boxes and the large, broken-down scales. He'd seen the lady engine's arrival at the yards and a long-forgotten memory had jumped into his head, a memory of when he'd woken up after the coal wagon had cut off his legs and he was inside a big cave with his arms tied to two railway lines and strange men wearing robes with hoods that hid most of their faces, and they were talking to each other and pointing at him as they spoke.

The mangled stumps of his legs had stopped bleeding but they were still hurting him, and he was crying because he wanted to go home to his mammy and they wouldn't let him, and then the engine came into the cave as well but she didn't have a face then, she was just an ordinary engine, and... and then a _monster_ came into the cave and it was staring at him with its coal-black eyes and he couldn't run away because he didn't have any legs any more and even if he did he couldn't run away because he was still tied to the railway lines, and then the monster came nearer to him and as the strange men started shouting words he couldn't understand, the monster opened his mouth and fire came out and... then he was being pulled by another truck just like him, and there was something stuck on behind him and he knew somehow that it was another truck just like him, and all the trucks were laughing and saying silly things about how they were going to play a trick on the shunting engine, but _he_ wasn't laughing or singing like the other trucks because he still wanted to go home to his mammy, but his mammy wouldn't know him now because he didn't look like her little boy any more, and he knew he would never smile ever again, and the other trucks always made fun of him and said that he was an unhappy truck and that that was going to be his name forever and ever!

ooo

Thursday morning arrived and, at nine o'clock, Lady was at Knapford Station conferring with Sir Topham, Mr Percival, Burnett, Lawrence Harrington, Sam Browning and Dave Robbins. They were finalising details of the plan that she and Idris the dragon had decided on to restore the former engines and rolling stock. Sir Topham and Burnett would be with her and Idris in the steamies' engine shed at Tidmouth where the ritual would be taking place. Ivor, his driver Mr Jones and Mr Dinwiddy, seeing as they'd already learnt of the magical railway's creation, would be allowed to watch as a reward for helping to rescue Lady. Mr Percival and the other managers would be at their respective places of work where the majority of former engines and rolling stock would be taken to wait for the ritual to take place. They would all be given Direct Orders to ensure good behaviour and that none of them wander off during the evening as they would have to actually be on the tracks in order for Lady's magic to reach them. Sir Topham would also have to arrange security for the night, namely, staff members and fitters whom would ensure no members of the public would trespass anywhere near the marshalling yards, scrap works or repair sheds.

Lady then told them she needed only one engine for the ritual to work and, for personal reasons, that engine would be Thomas. The only others to have anything to do with the engines' return would be people like Wynford Watts at the miniature railway in Arlesburgh, Sir Robert Norramby at Ulfstead Castle, and a handful of others with private railways on their grounds, all of whom were already registered as being connected with Sodor Railways in a consultative role so as to ensure the confidentiality clause and thus secrecy of the railway magic. The engines, coaches and wagons that worked in other locations around the island would travel the following morning to wherever it was they worked from, and, hopefully, normal services would be resumed as soon as possible.

ooo

Across the other side of Knapford, Jeanie opened her eyes, becoming rigid in alarm as she realised that someone else was in bed with her. Quickly turning her head to look behind her as she twisted her body out from the other's embrace, she let out a sigh of relief when she saw her sister's face a few inches from her own. _"Ge—Gemma? What are you doing here? What time is it?"_

Woken up by her sister's sudden movement, Gemma sleepily replied, _"Keeping you company."_

_"Oh, that's... kind of you, thanks! Why, though, may I ask?" _

_"You had a nightmare last night and you woke me up,"_ Gemma said quietly as she sleepily blinked her eyes. _"Do you remember any of it?"_

_"Oh... yeah! I... I_ do_ remember something... Oh fuck!"_ swore Jeanie, rolling herself over to completely face her sister. _"Oh, Gemma, it was fucking horrible!"_

_"Well, it's half past ten according to the clock behind you,"_ Gemma told her, after raising her head up to see over her sister's, _"and whatever it was you dreamt of, Jeanie, it made you scream so loud you woke me up. Christ, girl, I thought someone had broken in and was_ attacking _you the way you were screaming! What the fuck were you dreaming of?"_

_"There... there was a-... I was standing on the platform of this railway station, I don't know where it was, and lots of coaches were flying past me and all these grey faces were looking at me from out of the windows as they passed by, and then I was, like, sitting inside one of the coaches all on my own and there were these voices coming from all around me, and they were saying I was going with them over and over, repeating themselves. It was like 'you're coming with us, you're coming with us,' on and on in time to the wheels going over the tracks, you know, like 'clickety-clack, clickety-clack,' and... and I couldn't stand up 'cos I was stuck to the seat and... and I just had to sit there while all these voices we going on and on saying the same fucking thing over and over again!_

_"I couldn't see out of the windows 'cos it was all black outside, like it was night-time or I was in a tunnel, and all I could hear were those voices and then everything started spinning round... and then there was this loud roaring sound like a giant lion was outside, and then the roof of the coach was gone and it was daytime outside and then I saw this giant dra-"_ Jeanie paused just then, realising just what she was about to say, but, at the same time also realising that it wouldn't sound too out of place seeing as it was just a nightmare she was describing, _"... and this fucking huge red dragon stuck his massive head inside the coach and grabbed me in his jaws and pulled me out."_

_"A... _dragon_?"_ asked Gemma incredulously. _"What the hell made you dream of a dragon?"_

Jeanie, recalling the talk she'd had with Lady, knew she couldn't tell her the truth about Idris, but she did know what she _could_ say. _"Remember how I said we were diverted all around Wales before we got back here? Well, the Welsh are quite proud of their flag, you know, that green and white one with a red dragon on it, well, we saw it or a dragon's head in practically every town we passed through, and my brain must have remembered it and made it into a real one in my dream. I... I remember shouting to it that I was to young to die..."_ she finished off quietly, her eyes cast downwards.

As she stared at the bed sheet between her and her sister, Jeanie recalled how she'd felt that time when she'd first seen the dragon in the sky above her before it swooped down at her. The terror she'd felt when that happened was so different to the feeling of perfection she felt soon after when it, no, _he_ had "spoken" to her in her mind, and she frowned, confused by her contradicting feelings about the creature. _"What happened then?"_ she heard Gemma ask.

_"I... I don't remember,"_ she said. _"It went all... hazy-like, and I thought I could hear someone calling me, but the next thing I knew I was waking up here with someone holding onto me. Fuck, Gemma, I didn't know it was you! I thought... I didn't know _what_ to think!"_

Gemma saw the look of fear of something that still lingered in her sister's eyes and thought it best to distract her, and so asked, _"You want boiled eggs and toast or Ready Brek for breakfast? We can talk more when you've got something in your belly!"_

_"Oh, just the Ready Brek, please, and a cup of tea would be nice. I'm bloody starving!"_ The idea of warm porridge filling her stomach brought a little cheer to her face and, seeing it, Gemma smiled as well before getting out of bed to go and get dressed, when she realised that her sister hadn't agreed to talk about her nightmare.

Twenty minutes later, Gemma was placing two bowls of steaming hot Ready Brek on the table as Jeanie came into the kitchen wearing a dressing gown over her underwear and with socks over her feet. She was clutching a notepad of some sort close to her chest with her good hand.

_"What have you got there, Sis, your secret diary?"_ Gemma cheekily asked.

_"No, silly!"_ Jeanie said back as she sat down at the table, placing the pad in the middle of the table. _"It's just some sketches I made during the trip I went on."_

_"Oh, and what did you draw, then, scenery and things?"_ Gemma asked, curious.

_"Yeah, but not just scenery. I also drew the engine that was pulling us and the brake van I was staying in. I, er, also drew the, um, men who were driving the engine, amongst other things."_

_"Ooh!"_ her sister exclaimed excitedly_. "Can I see them? Were they muscular, good-looking guys?"_

Instead of answering, Jeanie just picked up her spoon with her good hand and sprinkled some sugar over her breakfast, mixing it in her porridge before raising a spoonful up to her mouth and testing its temperature with her lips. Satisfied it wasn't going to burn her tongue, she swallowed it in one go, and let a sigh of contentment. Whilst having a wash before going downstairs, she'd decided that the only way she could talk about all she'd gone through the last week was to, well, speak as much of the truth as possible without actually talking about anything magical, and alter things to cover anything that would be awkward to explain.

She reckoned that, if she was careful, she could just pretend that it was real, in a sense, allowing for the fact that some of the people she'd drawn weren't actually real people at all, and the only engine on the island she'd seen to make a sketch of was in fact Edward... and then Lady and Ivor after she'd met them, of course. Right now, though, she had to think for a moment to recall if she'd drawn anything incriminating, but decided to just play it by ear. She was beginning to feel really bad treating her sister like this and keeping secrets from her and not being able to say anything about the magical railway. The warning from Lady had frightened her, but she believed that if she was careful, she should be all right. Showing her sister the sketches she'd drawn was, she felt, a way of mitigating that awkward feeling, and if the situation got out of hand, well, she could just... well, lie. _"See for yourself,"_ she then said quietly, gesturing with her empty spoon towards the sketchpad.

Gemma sat down at the table and picked it the pad, then turned over the cover page. The first drawing was a pencilled head and shoulders of a plump, bald-headed man with "Sir Topham Hatt" written at the bottom of the page. _"Hey, this is quite good, Sis,"_ she said, glancing over to Jeanie. _"He looks rather serious, doesn't he?"_

_"He was, most of the time,"_ said Jeanie, still with a mouthful of porridge, and after swallowing it, added, _"but he did laugh now and again. Not many times, though. He's had a lot to worry about lately, what with the, er, signalling system being down and no trains running on the island."_

The next few pages contained very elaborate sketches of Knapford station and the marshalling yards at Tidmouth, then started several drawings of people. _"Who are these, then? Passengers waiting for a train that never showed up, eh?"_ Gemma asked, holding the pad up to show one of the drawings to Jeanie.

_"No, some of them are of the, er, railway staff, you know, the drivers, fitters, that sort of thing. There wasn't much for them to do with no trains operating, so they spent most of their time in the station café."_

_"If there was no work for them,"_ said Gemma pointedly, _"then why didn't your boss or whoever was in charge send them home or something?"_

_"He couldn't. It was... it was a condition of their work contracts, or something like that."_

_"Oh. These ones here are dressed rather oddly, aren't they? Gawd, look at those coats they're wearing!"_

Jeanie shrugged, picturing in her mind the scene she'd drawn of the former engines as they milled about on the platform at Knapford. _"That's just the way they were dressed. Some of the people in that drawing are, er, foreign trainspotters."_

_"Bet they were pissed,"_ said Gemma with a chuckle, _"when they got here and there weren't any trains running!"_

_"Yeah,"_ said Jeanie quietly, thinking that the former engines had a damn good reason to feel pissed off.

_"I haven't seen any engines in here yet. You _did_ draw some of the engines, did you?"_

_"Er, yeah, some of them. The others were, er, locked up somewhere, and I didn't get to see them." _

_"Shame. Where's this place?"_ Gemma then asked after turning over a page. _"This, what, tower or whatever it is on top of a hill?"_

_"That's Glastonbury Tor. It's not far from where we had to collect the, er, special part we had to get."_

_"I've heard of that place. So _that's_ what it looks like,"_ said Gemma to herself more than to her sister before turning over another page and asking, _"Who's this 'Thomas' guy? He looks a bit like Inspector Frost on the telly, but with dark hair."_

_"He was Edward's driver. Edward was the name of the engine we had. Remember I said they had this thing for naming all their engines after people?"_

_"Yeah. A bit weird, that, I reckon."_

_"It's not! I think it's rather quaint,"_ said Jeanie defensively. _"It's... it's nice! It shows they care about the engines!"_

_"Quaint?"_ said Gemma mockingly. _"Oo-er! Whatever! I take it this 'James' guy is another train driver, yeah?"_

_"Yeah, you could say that, but he was there as Edward's fireman."_

_"His hair's a bit scruffy, isn't it?"_

_"Nah, that's just the way it was that day. It was a bit wet and windy if I remember right, and cold. He's rather proud of how he looks, actually. They all are, the drivers, I mean. They all had coats the same colour of the engines they drive. Thomas' was blue and James' was red. Others had green or black or purple coats." _

_"Gawd,"_ said Gemma, _"it must have been like you were in rainbow-land or something seeing all colours everywhere!"_

_"Yeah,"_ agreed Jeanie, smiling at a particular memory.

_"Ooh, an engine at last! Aw, Jeanie, I know you said the engines all had names, but I think you spoilt this Edward one by putting a face on it."_

_"Er... I, er, I did that because of the name thing, Gem. It's how I think he, I mean, it would look if... if it was an 'Edward' in real life."_

_"Huh! You're mad, and I still reckon it's weird. Didn't they have names like 'Flying Scotsman' or... or 'Sodor Express' or something?"_

_"Not really, though some of the diesels just had numbers, and there was one there that was called Diesel Ten,"_ said Jeanie, remembering the stern-looking green-clothed former diesel, _"and anyway, it's not weird to give them names! People name ships, don't they?"_

_"All right, Jeanie, don't get your knickers in a twist! I was only joking! Sorry!"_ apologised Gemma.

Jeanie deigned not to reply and just continued eating her breakfast. As she dwelt over the last few minutes, she realised how "quiet" her mind was. She hadn't been bothered by any conflicting arguments or warnings from the railway magic in her head, and the more she thought about it, she became even more sure that any hesitation she made whilst talking to her sister was through her own action, and not from either of the magical aspects that Sir Topham and Lady had given her. She told herself that she'd have to think more about that as the day went on.

_"Cor, this engine looks really old. 'Ivor', eh? Why didn't you put a face on him, it, then? Shit, Jeanie, now you've got _me_ thinking they're real!"_

Jeanie's smiled wryly at what her just said to her, then replied, _"I couldn't think of what an 'Ivor' looked like, to be honest."_ Whilst talking, she had been using her spoon to make a row of "channels" through the shallow layer of porridge that remained in her bowl, watching them collapse back in on themselves before the spoon reached the other side. _"That was an engine we met, er, saw in North Wales. His driver's on the next page, I believe."_

Gemma quickly turned the page over to look and, amused by what she saw underneath the drawing, said, _"'Jones the _Steam'_? What sort of name is _that_?"_

_"It's not _that_ unusual in Wales, apparently. The Welsh often link people's names to their jobs. They call him Jones the Steam because he drives a steam engine. He, Mr Jones, that is, explained it to me. His boss is called Dai Station because he's a stationmaster, and they had an 'Owen the Signal' who lived in his signal box, believe it or not, and they'd have other things like 'Edwyn the Milk' for a milkman or 'Joan the Shop' for a shopkeeper; it's just what they do there. He even had a relative called Evans the Song who ran the local choir. He's a really nice guy, is Mr Jones. Edwyn Jones was his full name. Oh, Gemma, you should have heard him speak! He's got the most lovely accent!"_

_"What did he sound like, then?"_

Jeanie pursed her lips in thought for a moment, her mind running through several comments she'd heard him make, then she nodded to herself as she selected one of them and readied herself, making a slight jib with her mouth in order to try and get the accent right... _"Now then, Ivor, we'd better get going before Dai Station starts complaining that we're late again!"_

Gemma rocked back in her chair, creased with laughter at her sister's effort at a Welsh accent, setting Jeanie off into a fit of the giggles as well.

_"No... seriously,"_ said Jeanie after she'd calmed down, _"it was really nice hearing it. It... it's different to the way everyone speaks here on Sodor."_

_"If you insist!"_ chuckled Gemma as she turned the page over. _"Ooh! They had tramps there as well, yeah? 'Mr Dinwiddy', eh? Gawd, Jeanie, you have no shame at all! You actually asked a tramp what his name was!"_

_"He's not a tramp!"_ said Jeanie haughtily. _"Christ, Gemma, if you only knew how wealthy that guy was! He owns a fucking gold mine, for fuck's sake, _and_ the mountain it's in... on!"_

_"A _what_? A gold mine _and_ a mountain? No way, Sis! You're having me on, aren't you?"_

_"No, I'm serious! We met him on our way to get some coal. He was standing next to the track after his wheelbarrow had broken and he had this sack with him. We found out later that there were three lumps of actual gold in it, all of them as big as your fist, they were!"_

_"Fuck off!"_ said Gemma disbelievingly.

_"No, it's true!"_ insisted Jeanie, then, in a more serious tone, said, _"He really does own a mountain next to the track we were on. His father left it to him in his will God knows how long ago, but yeah, Mr Dinwiddy is really scruffy, like, and _I_ reckon he's the oldest man in Wales, but he's really fit for an old man, though! He's also as mad as a hatter!"_

_"I suppose he'd have to be fit to live on a mountain,"_ said Gemma appreciatingly. _"Maybe he's like one of those eccentric millionaires you see on the telly!"_

_"Hm-mmph!"_ chuckled Jeanie, agreeing with her sister. _"Yeah, he's eccentric all right, but I think he's also one of the kindest, most caring people I've ever met, even though he's bat-shit crazy and he did my head in a lot of the time!"_

The next few drawings were of more scenery Jeanie had seen around Llaniog: fields with hills in the background, a mountain range, some pretty cottages, the lift shafts of a distant coal mine on the horizon, then Gemma saw something that made her let out an appreciative "Oooh!"

_"Hmmm, 'Lady',"_ she said in awe, gazing in admiration at the small engine that her sister had drawn. _"That's... yeah, that name is just right for this engine, I think. You've given her a really pretty face, as well. Did you see her, it, I mean, in Wales as well?"_

_"No. She's, er, here on Sodor, actually. She came back with us... and Ivor did. We needed them both to get us back because Edward, the engine who took us there, broke one of his coupling rods."_

Gemma stared curiously at her sister. _"If you didn't see her in Wales,"_ she said, _"then how come she helped bring you all back from there with what's-his-name... Ivor?"_

_"She, er, we met her after we left Wales,"_ replied Jeanie after a pause in which she recalled the mind-spinning trip they'd made through the portal inside the old tunnel that took them to Muffle Mountain. _"Ivor was really struggling with all the weight he had to push and she helped us after we met her."_

_"You really _did_ have problems, then,"_ said Gemma looking back at the sketch of the pretty little engine, not aware, though, of the engine's magical nature.

_"You can say that again,"_ said Jeanie, nodding slowly as she stared into space, her stomach beginning to churn as she remembered what she'd drawn on the following page, the one that her sister was just about to look at...

_"You fucking idiot!"_ said Gemma, then, not without a little bit of anger in her voice, as she turned the sketchpad towards Jeanie, thrusting it just a few inches from her face. _"No wonder you had a fucking nightmare, you silly cow! What the hell made you want to draw something like _that_ for?"_

Jeanie could only shrug her shoulders as she stared at the black eyes of the creature she'd drawn, its wings held aloft as it stood in front of her with one foreleg raised up from the ground and stared back at her with its jaws half open to reveal its sharp teeth, teeth that Jeanie had often imagined biting through her neck and then ripping her head off her shoulders with little or no effort. _"I'd, er, forgotten I'd done that, actually,"_ she said rather sheepishly. _"They had pictures of dragons and dragons' heads on nearly every fucking shop or lorry or van we saw! Fuck, Gemma, it's like they're fucking obsessed with dragons, but I wanted to draw what he really, er, what one would look like if they were real!"_

Gemma sighed, shaking her head slowly from side to side as she took back the sketchpad and turned over the page to look at the next drawing, expecting to find something else that would explain her sister's nightmare, but the page was blank, and so was the rest of the pad. Closing it and placing it in front of her on the table, she said, _"Well, Sis, I'm really impressed. Not only have you captured some of the beautiful scenery of Wales and it's people, also some historical steam engines, but you also invited into your head a creature from hell to haunt your dreams and give you a fucking nightmare! So, are you going back to work there, or what?"_

_"I'm going back tomorrow, probably... Yeah, tomorrow morning, though I want to get my head right before I decide whether to stay there or not. Today, though, I want to slip into town and get some oil paints and stuff. See what I can do with these sketches. Hey, where's my cup of tea?"_

_"Hey, I forgot, okay?"_ said Gemma in mock indignation as she stood up, and satisfied that she now had a reason to explain her sister's night-terror. _"I'll do one right away, my _Lady_,"_ she then said, curtseying to her sister, _"besides, you distracted me with your drawings! Seriously, though, Jeanie, is everything all right with you, and this job you're doing, do you think it's the right one for you? I mean, all this railway stuff is obviously new to you and all that, but don't you think that it's all a bit too much? I thought you had your heart set on an advertising job or something you could use your degree in art and design with?"_

Again, Jeanie stared into space, asking herself that very same question – _was she in over her head?_ Over the last few months, she'd applied for jobs all over the island since finishing in uni, only getting back rejection letters from some of the would-be employers she'd written to, and all of them saying the same thing, that they were looking for someone with previous experience. _How could she get the experience they wanted her to have if they didn't employ her_, she'd disappointedly asked herself whenever she received the bad news, and it seemed to her as though she was caught in a vicious circle with no-one willing to take on someone with nothing to show them other than a university degree and a desire to learn. Then, one day, she'd stopped her car to help someone and found herself drawn into something out of The Twilight Zone, something that was so unbelievable yet so fantastic and amazing, and drawn into a world of previously unimaginable wonders, or was it a nightmare of insanity-inducing mystical forces that would end up having her committed into a mental institution for the rest of her life?

She looked up to suddenly find her sister standing in front of her with her hand on her shoulder, _and_ _she_ _hadn't even noticed_, that's how lost she was in her own world of self-doubt. _"I... I don't know, Gem, I just don-"_ but instead of words completing her sentence, what came out next was a sob just before she burst into tears of self-pity: pity for stopping in the first place to aid an old man in need of help, pity for her desperate need for a job that made her say yes to Sir Topham's offer, pity for what she'd seen that naked woman go through in order to become the magical engine who's own recent plight had destined the engines on Sodor to their own world of nightmares, pity for the claustrophobic trauma she'd gone through when stuck in the old tunnel and never knowing if she'd ever get to see her family again, and pity for putting herself in a position where she had to lie to her own sister in order to protect something that was... well, unimaginable. She sensed, rather than noticed her sister crouch down beside her and wrap her arms around her and comfort her as she let out her grief at all she'd gone through over the last few days, crying even louder then as she realised that should she actually admit what was wrong with her would be to invite even more despair when they carried her off to a mental institution and she tried to explain everything to disbelieving doctors and psychiatrists.

_"Come on, Sis,"_ she faintly heard Gemma say to her, _"let's get you back up to bed!"_

ooo

By dinnertime, all the engines and wagons were accounted for, apart from one of the former trucks and Diesel 10, and Sir Topham had just rung Mr Pugh, the coal-mine owner, to ask of his whereabouts, only to be told that the former diesel wasn't there, but there had been a roof-fall in an abandoned tunnel near to where he was supposed to have met the broken down engine, and it _was_ possible that he'd been caught underneath it. The local railway company would be responsible for clearing up all the rubble and making the old tunnel safe again, Pugh had also told him, and when they got round to it, he would contact Sir Topham to let him know if they indeed found his body under the fallen roof.

As Sir Topham pondered over the mine-owner's words, he wondered briefly if that was indeed the case, would it be a mangled body they'd find or a rather-dented diesel engine? He'd have to ask Lady what she thought of the matter, but it wouldn't be until after she reconnected her magic to the engines _or should that be former engines? _and transformed them would she be able to know whether or not Diesel 10 was somewhere on Sodor or still in Wales.

Going back over a conversation he'd had with her just after lunch, and when she'd told him she was aware that he and Burnett had already learnt some of the truth behind how the talking engines were created, she'd asked him just how much he know of the railway magic. He'd been honest, naturally, and told her that he'd learnt some rather shocking things from the papers his grandfather and father had left him. She'd then asked him if he'd spoken of it to any others, to which he, of course, replied no. She'd responded to that by telling him that it was Company Business and that she herself would hold him accountable should that information leak out anywhere, but, he mused, from what Burnett had said, she had originally asked, no, _pleaded_ that he open the box in the chest that contained all that information. _Just what exactly was she worried about?_ he asked himself.

She'd then gone on to say that, whilst it was necessary, being the owner of Sodor Railways, for him to be there, Burnett could also watch the ritual if he so wished, though it would most likely be quite upsetting for them both. Sir Topham worried about that, but having already seem something a few nights back on those old film reels of what such rituals required, he believed he at least would be able to stomach it.

They'd then talked about Jeanie Watkins, and Lady had commented that it was very convenient for them that she was taking some time off from work and would miss seeing the ritual. When he'd asked her why she'd said that, she'd reminded him that the young woman was still a security risk. Lady had then stressed to him that he be very careful with how he dealt with her in future, for should she be fired for any reason, although she would lose the two aspects of railway magic they had both given her, because of the lack of complete integration between the railway magic and her own mind, she may very well end up still being aware of the talking engines, and able to talk about them to outsiders. Right now, even, having it in the form she did and employed by Sodor Railways, she may, whether by design or accident, still reveal something she shouldn't.

They'd also discussed Lady's magic sharing on the night they returned, and Sir Topham was quite perturbed to find out that she'd somehow "softened" the traumatic effect Jeanie had suffered as a result of the dragon's little "performance" with him, and he wondered just what Lady had meant by that. To him, the fact that the magical engine was able to affect people's minds in some way was quite worrying to him, and he wondered if _his_ mind, too, had been "affected" by her in some way, but then his own connection with the railway magic had assured him that what the magical engine had just told him was quite acceptable, and so he went on to ask her about the forthcoming ritual instead.

They'd gone over the importance of ensuring that all the former engines, coaches and wagons being spaced out appropriately on the railway tracks so that there'd be no accidents caused by carriages or trucks suddenly appearing too close to each other. Lady would be sending her magic to them via Thomas and throughout the island's entire railway network, and, for example, should any of the former troublesome trucks feel that it would be a good idea to sneak off somewhere, they would lose their one opportunity to be changed back into a truck. That would be quite dangerous, Lady assured him in no uncertain terms, and he would have to use his authority as their owner to ensure they obeyed every instruction the managers or railway staff gave them.

He'd asked her if they had to be in the same place they were when they had changed into people, but Lady had said no, they only needed to be some place where they wouldn't be seen by the public, which was why they were doing it late at night and, in the majority of cases, at the various work yards.

For the rest of the day, Sir Topham was kept busy finalising arrangements with the coach and bus companies that were collecting the former trains. He sighed heavily at the exorbitant surcharges they were charging him for the short notice he'd given them, but he knew he'd have to accept the extra cost if it meant he was going to get his railway back again! Another concern he had was that some of the fitters overseeing the transportation had commented on how there was a marked change in some of the former engines' personalities, although the majority of the former coaches and trucks were acting pretty much as they had been since the day of the Event, as they'd come to refer to that particular day. Where they once acted like lost children, frightened but excited by their new surroundings, now, for the most serious cases, it was as though they are going to their own funeral! It was strange, Sir Topham thought to himself, for he'd assumed they'd all be quite pleased to know they'd soon be back as they were. He smiled, then, as he felt the familiar tingle of the railway magic assuring him that all was well with the world.

ooo

Later that afternoon, Gemma was trying to concentrate on an old black and white romance film on BBC 2, despite her mind constantly interrupting with worries about Jeanie, and she was taken aback when she heard her sister come down the stairs, she then came into the living room dressed ready to go out and with a solemn look on her face.

_"How are you feeling now?"_ Gemma asked her, muting the TV with the remote control.

Nodding her head a couple of times, Jeanie replied, _"A bit better. I've been thinking. I need to be more positive with myself if I want to get better again, so I'm going to work tomorrow morning and having a serious chat with Sir Topham, and either I'll resign or he can sack me, and then I can get on with my life, but there's some stuff I need to get out of my head first."_

_"What do you mean?"_ asked Gemma. _"What sort of stuff?"_

_"Those drawing I made, I've been thinking about them, especially the one I did of Idris... I mean the dragon. I wan-"_

Gemma closed her eyes in despair, then looked up angrily at her sister. _"YOU GAVE THAT DRAGON A FUCKING NAME AS WELL? FUCKING HELL, JEANIE!"_ then, more calmly, she asked imploringly, _"Sis, seriously now, please, tell me what's wrong with you?"_

_"I... I've got... these things in my head,"_ said Jeanie, staring down at the laminated flooring beneath her trainers, picturing little trains running back and fore along the grooves between the false planks of wood, _"and I need to get them out before I can get better,"_ she added. _"I... I read somewhere that one way to deal with... mental problems is to draw things, to make them solid... objectify them to make them something you can then, I don't know, throw away or something, and that's what I want do with those sketches I drew, and... and I... I want to talk about them."_

_"THAT... that sounds quite sensible, Jeanie,"_ said Gemma, the scowl she had softening into a look of approval. _"It's a lot better than pretending trains are real people. What sort of stuff... things are you talking about?"_

_"Things I've seen, some of the... people I've met, and I don't know how much I can say about them right now. There's... there's a promise I made to... to someone, and I don't know what'll happen if I break that promise. I need time to-"_

_"Tell me, Jeanie,"_ cut-in Gemma, interrupting her. _Oh, God,_ thought Gemma as she quickly stood up and clasped her sister's hands, raising them up to her chest, _she's been abused by someone! "W_ho_ did you make a promise to, and _what_ did you promise?"_ she asked. _"Was it one of the drivers? Did he touch you or something?" I'll fucking kill the bastard! "Did he... did he ra-"_

"No, Gem, no, no, NO!" said Jeanie forcefully as she shook her head in denial. "It's nothing like _that _at all! It's... it's hard to explain to someone who doesn't know about it... them."

_"Then help me, Jeanie, please?"_ begged Gemma. _"You're not making much sense, and I can't help you if you don't tell me what's happened to you!"_

_"Phuh! You'd never believe it in a million years, Gem, not in a million years!"_ said Jeanie, chuckling as she spoke, _and now for the big test... _She then took in a deep breath, letting it out slowly before speaking again. _"Gemma, I've... I've found out something... something about the railways here on Sodor."_ _There, I've said it,_ she thought to herself, and waited for the pain... but it never came, and all she could feel was a sense of discomfort in the back of her mind. Her mouth half-open as she waited a few moments for that discomfort to manifest itself into something much worse, but, again, all she could perceive was no more than a sense of watchfulness, as though the railway magic was taunting her, waiting for her to make on false step, say one wrong word then... but Jeanie was feeling full of herself, and she had to say _something_! _"Gemma, do you trust me?"_

Taken aback slightly by the unexpected question, Gemma replied, _"Yeah, of course I do, you know that! Why do you ask? You haven't stolen anything, have you?"_

_"No, 'course not!"_ said Jeanie. _"It's... it's more about-... look, if I told you I've seen something really unusual, what would you think?"_ _**Do you realise what you're saying?**_

_"I don't know, depends on what it is you saw, I suppose,"_ said Gemma, wondering where this was leading to.

Jeanie wrested her hands from her sister's and took hold of them in exchange. _**She won't believe you if you tell her.**__I _know_ she won't, but I need to _try_! I've felt so alone in all this, I _really_ need to talk with someone about it, someone not connected with the railways!_ _"Gemma, if... if I told you that there's... things going on in the world that we'd never, ever think of as being true or possible,... I... I-"_ but Jeanie couldn't continue with what she wanted to say, not because the railway magic had stopped her or anything, but because she didn't know _how_ to explain what she knew without making herself sound out of her mind, and giving her sister a good reason to phone for the men in the white coats to come and collect her!

She closed her eyes, letting out a gasp of frustration with herself. She'd actually started to say something but couldn't, and all because no matter which way she explained about magic and talking steam engines being changed into people because a pretty magical engine had fallen ill and how she'd met a real dragon that was telepathic and then went through a magic portal to America to rescue that same magical engine before returning to Sodor through another magic portal so that the human-trains could be changed back into real trains again, she knew deep down that her sister would just simply refuse to believe her!

Sighing loudly, she let go of Gemma's hands and stepped back. _"I want to explain things, Gemma, I really do, but I think it'll be easier if I go slowly. I really _want_ to do this, Sis, I really do, but I need you to have some patience with me, yes? If I go now, I'll catch the shops before they shut, and I can get that art stuff I was talking about earlier. I... I want to see if that idea I had will work. I won't be long,"_ and with that, she headed out of the living room towards the front door.

_"All right, Jeanie, but I'm coming with you,"_ said Gemma, not happy with this sudden change of affairs. _"I think we both could do with a break!"_

_"So, I'm not old enough to go out on my _own_, then?"_ Jeanie suddenly demanded quite testily, glaring at her sister. "What, you think I'll get knocked down crossing the road or something?" but, horrified by the look of hurt that appeared on Gemma's face, and the realisation of what she'd actually said, horrified and deeply shamed her. _"Oh, fuck! I'm sorry, Gemma!"_ she cried out, seeing her sister turn away from her and cast her head down towards her feet, offended by the unwarranted and painful reminder of her mother's death.

_"Oh, Gem... Sis! I... I didn't mean it like that! I'm so, so sorry!"_ she continued, her voice shaking with remorse, and quickly went back to her sister and wrapped her arms around her tightly and hugging her. _"I... I've been doing that a lot over the last few d-d-days,"_ she stammered, trying not to sob. _"S-s-snapping at people for no reason. I... I wish I could tell you what's going on, Gemma, I really do, but... but the contract said I can't, and Lady told me- Gemma, I'm so, so sorry for saying that, I am. I really wish I could tell you, Gemma, I really do, but I don't know what'll happen to me!"_

The two sisters stood together in silence, the elder replaying the bare handful of childhood memories she still had of when her mother was still alive: playing in a park with a beach ball that was too large for her to wrap her small arms around in a game of catch, her mother fussing over her when she'd tripped after getting onto a bus and banging her head on the edge of a seat, the multitude of pretty coloured lights she'd been fascinated by during an late-evening Christmas shopping in town, standing with her father as they scanned the night sky trying to find the star where her father had said her mother had gone to live in instead of their house after the car had knocked her down, whilst the younger sat beside her wishing with everything she had that she could go back in time and not say those damned awful words.

_"Give me five minutes to get ready,"_ said Gemma, breaking the awkward silence, her voice not giving any hint of the sadness she was feeling as she wiped tears off her cheek. _"I think you're suffering from severe psychological stress, Jeanie,"_ she added gravely, _"and if you promise me that you'll make an appointment to see a doctor about it, I'll forgive you, but when we come back, you are going to tell me about this other promise you said you made to someone, yeah?"_

Jeanie looked into her eyes, feeling sick at how much she'd upset her sister, and said, _"Yeah, I... I promise."_

ooo

Idris returned to Knapford later around teatime and spent some time with Ivor and Jones the Steam, getting them up-to-date with the latest news from North Wales, and a request from Dai Station that they get themselves back to Llaniog as soon as possible or there'll be ructions!

Mr Dinwiddy had spent the day touring some of the old mines dotted around the island, and had just arrived back from the old mines near Toryreck, muttering to himself on how anyone looking for gold there would probably have poisoned themselves from all the lead which, historically, was their main output. Almost immediately, he sensed the tension in the air as the stout railway owner and several of his employees rushed about the station checking everything was going as planned.

All in all, the old man reflected as he sat on one of the platform benches swinging his legs under him as he watched everything going on around him, he'd been having a wonderful time just recently. He'd met some very odd people that were really steam engines, he'd been on a scary trip through the old tunnel that had taken him across to the other side of the world, and he'd help to save a magical engine that, miracles be told, turned out to be the very same naked woman he'd seen many, many years ago when he was a young boy exploring an abandoned tunnel near his home, and he'd even _talked_ with her, and to cap it all, he'd seen _magic!_, and later tonight, he'd be seeing even more magic being performed, something really spectacular, and he giggled in excitement!

ooo

Walking through town earlier, Gemma had felt like she was walking on eggshells as she and Jeanie talked together while they shopped. Gemma used the opportunity to get something for their tea whilst Jeanie spent some time in the local art and crafts shops near the market, and just catching the chemist's before they closed for the day to get a fresh bandage for the cut on her hand. The cut itself was scabbing over nicely, but she wanted to make sure that the bandages were as clean as possible to avoid any dirt or anything infecting it.

While Gemma was in the supermarket, she ruminated over what her sister had been telling her, but apart from some confused ramblings about what it meant for people to acknowledge their humanity, with an oblique reference to artificial intelligence, she hadn't revealed anything spectacular to her, talking mostly in cryptic terms about how people saw the world. She had then gone on to speak of a man she met at Glastonbury who was using dowsing rods to locate ley lines in the ground around the tower, something she herself had thought rather kooky whenever she'd read about that sort of thing in newspapers or magazines, but her sister had been quite enthusiastic about it, getting really excited when she told of how her companion Thomas had fallen over when he'd crossed one of the so-called dragon lines, as she'd put it! _Fucking dragons again!_ she'd thought to herself, and scoffed over the falling-down bit, telling Jeanie that he'd probably tripped or something and it was just a coincidence when it happened to be where one of those ley lines or whatever they were called was supposed to be!

Her sister, unperturbed by this, had then insisted that she had good reason to believe it as being true, and that she was aware of something quite mind-staggering to have that reason, but despite Gemma's probing for her to explain herself, Jeanie had refused, only saying that she's "got to do this in baby-steps", whatever _that_ might mean.

During the walk home, the two women, by Jeanie's request, had been silent, bar the conversation going on inside her head!

_I need to tell her something! I've been so alone this last week. __**You know what could happen to you. **__Yeah, I know, but I don't have to tell her everything, or things like the fact that the engines can talk, she'd never believe something like that! __**Then how can you tell her anything? You may still have your free will, but that doesn't mean that we're not here. **__I know that, I'm fucking stuck with you, but if I resign or get fired, there's a chance you'll be gone, both of you! __**Maybe we won't be gone; you heard what Lady said might happen to you. **__Yeah, but I've told her about Thomas being affected by the dragon lines, and nothing happened to me then, did it? __**No, but that could have happened to anybody, after all, real people can be affected by earth energies as well. **__What? How? I thought it was only because he was part of the railway magic! How can it affect normal people? I mean, they're not trains or anything, so they shouldn't be affected by it, should they? __**There's so much you don't know, which is why you were asked not to talk about it. Think of the damage you can cause. **__But I'd only be telling my sister, and I don't even know what I'll be telling her. I just need to tell her something! I can't keep all this stuff in my head any longer! You saw the way it affected me earlier and what it made me say to her! I never want to do anything like that to her again. __**Then don't say anything, then. You should be able to control yourself better now that we are balanced,**_but Jeanie wasn't having any of this...

_But I don't want you inside my head, balanced or unbalanced! I want you both out of my head, which is what I'm going to talk about tomorrow with Sir Topham. __**Doing that won't help you much. If your contract with Sodor Railways is terminated, there's a chance we might stay with you. Yes, there's a chance you might be free of us, but because you'll still have memories of the railway magic, we may still find a way of controlling you.**__ I don't fucking want you to be controlling me. You're... you're not part of me, and you're not me! You're just things that were put in my head against my will! N__**o we're not. You agreed to it when you accepted Sir Topham's offer of a job. **__I fucking did not! No fucking way! __**You accepted what he was saying when he was telling you about it, that you'd be fascinated by it. **__Well, yeah, it was fascinating, especially when Lady spoke to me in my mind and when I finally got to see her face. I thought it was brilliant! __**No, you still don't understand what we're telling you.**_

Jeanie got the vague impression that the railway magic inside her mind was shaking it's head sadly, rather like a parent would do when a child had done or said something wrong. _Uh? Then you'd better explain it to me, hadn't you! _and then a memory of when she found for the very first time inside Sir Topham's study in Hatt Hall started to play in her mind, and she lived again through the moment when the posh man had told her...

_'... __but you'll find that what I will be telling you to be so fascinating that you'll not ever wish to leave the job', _and then another memory replayed itself...

**'**_**You'll be finding what I say at first to be quite unbelievable, but the more I tell you, the more you'll become fascinated by the magic and accepting to it all. There's no need for you to worry, Jeanie, you haven't been drugged or anything. It's just your reaction to the magic beginning to work in you.' **_

_Yeah, that was true enough, I was fascinated by it all, so? __**You still fail to understand. **__Then tell me what I don't understand, you pair of fucking... head-invaders! __**The word fascinate comes from the Latin 'fascinare' - to cast a spell on. You think it simply means that you are very interest in something, or something is wonderful to look at, but in it's original form, it's a Word of Power, a Word that means, to be crude, to bewitch or to enchant. You accepted that bewitchment when you accepted what Sir Topham was telling you. **__THAT LYING, TWO-FACED BASTARD! HE FUCKING TRICKED ME! __**No he didn't; he simply told you the truth of the situation. He didn't trick or lie to you, Sir Topham was, and is, an honest man.**_

Then, one final memory presented itself...

_'To cut a long story short, if you accept my job offer, I can explain everything you need to know. If you then don't want to work for either myself or the Railway Company, you can give me immediate notice in writing and you'll immediately be free to leave, no strings attached, well, except for the confidentiality clause.'_

Jeanie recalled the simplicity of the contract she had signed. All it had said was that the signatory promised not to reveal any confidential information or Company Matters passed on to him/her by any means that related to Sodor Railways.

Furious with herself for being caught out like that, and with the whole thing that was the magical railway, she seethed within herself, looking for any way she could find some sort of get-out clause, but there was nothing. The very simplicity of the contract contained everything the railway magic needed to control her during _and_ after her employment by it.

_Did... did he know he was bewitching me? __**No. He was simply acting on behalf of the railway magic when he offered you the job. **__So it was you that tricked me, then, you fuckers! __**We didn't 'trick' you, as you put it; we simply told you how it was, we told you the truth and you accepted it. **__Ah, but I'm different, aren't I? You're not, what was it, now... yeah, you're not 'assimilated' into my mind, are you? Sir Topham only gave me his part of you because Lady was, like, 'not connected' or something, and so you and my mind didn't connect properly! That why I was so fucked up by it all, wasn't it? __**That... is true. **__And even when Lady gave me her magic to balance you, you still weren't 'connected' with me! Hah! Take that, you bastards! I reckon even if I did finish working for you, then you can't kill me or stop me from saying anything about you because I've still got my free will. I know because Lady told me so!_

Smiling and nodding to herself as she walked back home beside her sister, Jeanie became determined to solve her problem by herself, but she knew she had to be careful how she did she explained everything to her sister or she'll just refuse to listen to what seemed to be the ravings of a nutter! _**You're meddling around with powers you don't understand. You're going to regret doing this.**_

When they arrived back at the house, Jeanie turned to her sister and said, _"Gemma, I'm going to tell you some stuff that may sound rather odd, but let me explain some things before you call me mad or off my head, yeah?"_

Gemma looked at her younger sister, thinking that what she had just said sounded crazy without having to hear any explanation from her, but if it meant that it was going to explain why she was acting the way she was, then, yeah, she'd listen all right, but if her sister _was_ sounding as though she'd gone off her rocker, then the only real help she could offer her was to make sure that she _did_ get to see a doctor, or psychiatrist or whatever. Nodding her head a couple of times, she said, _"Okay, I'll listen, but only if you promise to let me help you?"_

_"Just being there to listen to me will be a big help, Gemma. Oh, and I'll also show you something that some... one I met taught me, and I think it'll convince you that I've not really gone mad, yeah?"_

_"Whatever,"_ said Gemma as she reached into her handbag for her front-door key.

ooo

The night was peaceful and the only sounds to be heard apart from the occasional screech of a hunting owl or the bark of a scavenging fox in the nearby forest were the footsteps of Thomas, James, Henry and Percy as they walked towards their engine shed where Sir Topham and the others were waiting for them. Lady was outside the shed but facing inwards on the rightmost track that led to Thomas' usual resting place when he was an engine. Also outside was Ivor, on the track next to her, and he, too, was facing inwards so that he could watch the ritual. Sitting between the two engines was Idris, his wings folded behind him and his head cocked to one side as he watched the four former engines approach. On Joined to Ivor back end was wagon of anthracite they'd brought with them from Pugh's Pit. Between them and the coal wagon were Sir Topham, Jones the Steam and Mr Dinwiddy who were all standing in a group talking to each other whilst Burnett Stone was inside Lady's cab talking to her. As the four former engines got within a few feet of the three humans, Idris went over to the coal wagon, leapt up on top of it and busied himself munching down several mouthfuls of the hot-burning Welsh coal.

_"I'm nervous!"_ exclaimed Percy to his friends.

_"Not as nervous as I am,"_ muttered Thomas as he looked across to his friend, _"after all, I'm the one Lady's using to change us all back into engines. I hope I don't do anything wrong!"_

_"I wish Edward and Gordon were both here,"_ said Henry mournfully.

_"So do I,"_ said James. _"Gordon was with us when we first became like this, it only seems right that he should be here when we all change back!"_

_"And Edward should be here to see us after all he did for us in getting the special water and the Welsh coal,"_ added Thomas.

_"Yeah,"_ agreed James. "_It's a pity he broke his coupling rod, though!"_

_"Thomas,"_ said Sir Topham. _"Lady has assured me that you will be just fine and that there's nothing for you to worry about."_

_"I'm not worried, Sir Topham, Sir,"_ said Thomas, _"but I am very nervous!"_

_~I have all my trust in you, Thomas,~_ said Lady, _~and I know you will do exactly what is needed.~_

_"PpRP!"_

_"Yes,"_ said Jones the Steam, nodding his head, _"and good luck from us as well."_ The short welshman then turned to his engine and said, _"That was very nice of you, Ivor."_

_"Th-thank you, Mr Jones, Sir, Lady,"_ said Thomas, feeling bolstered by both his owner's and the magical engine's belief in him as he entered the engine shed, _"and thank you, too, Ivor! I-I'll do my best!"_

ooOOoo


	30. Chapter 30

Chapter 30

Fascinated, Jones the Steam and Mr Dinwiddy watched as Thomas and the other former engines started to prepare for the ritual. With his friend Ivor, he'd been involved a fair few adventures over the years since first meeting the little green engine, but this current one was one he'd _never_ forget. The thrill of finding an actual dragon's egg up on Smoke Hill many years ago had, until now, been one of his favourites, but now, having met the actual magical engine created shortly after his own engine had been given life, well, he found himself quite choked up, to be honest with himself. True, they'd been stuck inside a mountain, transported all the way to America, felt the most agonising of pain and believed he was going to die as their first attempt to bring the magical engine back to life failed, but now, they were all back home again, well, not quite home yet as they still had some travelling to do before he, Ivor and Mr Dinwiddy were back in Wales again, but they were near enough!

The owner of Sodor Railways had proved to be a kind and generous fellow, and last night, over a most sumptuous late dinner, had regaled both him and Mr Dinwiddy with many a tale of his engines' exploits over the years, and he had laughed in turn as Jones had told the portly gentleman some of what his own little engine had been up to.

Though he'd already seen some of what Lady, the magical engine, was capable of doing, well, tonight, he and his two friends were going to see what she could _really_ do!

ooo

Whilst Lady and Ivor stayed just outside the engine shed, James and Henry followed the magical engine's instructions, each taking up a shovel and filling several buckets with rock salt from the storage hopper outside. They both then took a bucket each and started to tip the salt out onto the floor of the shed over the chalk circles Sir Topham and Burnett Stone had made earlier to create three very large concentric rings around the area where Thomas slept at night when he was an engine. The two former engines had to ensure that the salt lines they made were thick and high enough to fill the gaps between the rails and the concrete floor of the shed, and also go over the rails without any breaks in the circles they were making.

When they'd finished, they stepped back and saw that the circles they'd made were large enough to surround a full-sized tank engine, with each having a gap wide enough for Thomas to walk through. Near the gaps were small piles of salt which he would then use to complete the circles as he entered them when it was time for the ritual to begin. The gaps were all lined up to where Lady was parked facing the shed and a few yards back from the outermost circle.

She then instructed Percy to make a circle around Ivor so that he, the two welshmen and, of course, her dear Burnett would be protected from the release of magic at the end of the ritual, and the short former engine tipped the rock salt around the little engine in the same way Henry and James had done, though not leaving a gap.

The three men had been instructed by Lady not to cross the circle around Ivor, and so that there would be no chance of _that_ happening, they both stayed inside Ivor's cab. Once Percy had finished, he joined Henry and James in standing in their usual resting places. Thomas was then told by Lady to set the Cardinal Icons around the outside of his circles before returning to stand just in front of the first gap and facing the magical engine.

Burnett watched all this with a feeling of pride in his chest. He'd seen his Lady do things with her magic before, but this was totally new to him, and he decided to step down to the ground as the cab of the engine he was in was even smaller than Lady's. He made sure not to go anywhere near the salt-ring around it, of course.

The Icons were four railway lamps that marked out North, South, East and West, with a different coloured lens in each lamp to make each lamp glow a different colour to represent the four elements of Earth, Fire, Air, and Water respectively.

The ritual was to commence at the stroke of midnight. The only symbolic reason for this was that it was late at night and the fitters and staff at the various engine sheds and yards around the island, having already been given the starting time, would have enough time to get all the other former engines, coaches and wagons into their allotted places to wait for Lady's magic to be sent to them.

Idris was watching quietly from a corner of the shed, digesting the anthracite he'd not long ago consumed, feeling quite confident he could generate the temperature the magical engine had asked for, then, feeling a sudden increase in pressure deep in his gut, he opened his jaws slightly and let out a small belch of flame and black smoke that rose up to the roof of the engine shed. _**# Excuse me,# **_ he said apologetically to the humans as they turned to look at him. _**# It must have been that rabbit I snacked on earlier,# **_, earning a glare from the magical engine for his rude interruption!

Lady then carefully studied the preparations for a while to make sure everything was in order, and after seeing Sir Topham check his watch and nod at her, announced loudly, ~It is time! Thomas, be brave, my friend, it won't be long, now. Sir Topham, if you would extinguish the overhead lights for me, and then come over and stand in front of me and face Thomas.~

The owner of Sodor Railways went over to the circuit box, pushed up a foot-long red lever and plunged the shed into near-darkness, using the glow from the outside security lights to see where he was going, and walked back to stand in his appointed place. When the ritual was over, it would not only reaffirm his ownership of Sodor Railway's rolling stock, but obedience in those that had only been on loan to him or just visiting the island when The Event had taken place. Lady then switched on her headlamp, causing Sir Topham's shadow to fall over Thomas as he stood facing both of them.

Sir Topham could see the anxious look on the former engine's face, and to reassure him, he smiled gently and nodded at him, getting a nervous-looking smile back in return. Being honest to himself, Sir Topham was feeling a bit anxious as well, as he'd never imagined he would ever be doing anything like _this_ before, and he jumped slightly when Lady started to chant several guttural-sounding Words of Power...

... and to the excitement of the others watching, each of the four lamps suddenly lit up by itself, casting green, red, amber and white glows to fall upon the salt-drawn circles that Henry and James had made. Thomas then turned round to face the circles and glowing lamps and entered the gap in the outermost circle as Lady closed her eyes and called upon the four Spirits to watch upon and protect her Vessel of Rebirth as he made his way into her Womb.

As Sir Topham watched the ritual begin, Lady carried on with her chanting, the Words of Power sounding quite guttural and foreign, and he couldn't recognise the language she was using. It certainly wasn't Latin, he knew, but then, as the Words began to take effect, he suddenly felt goose pimples rise all over his skin, his blood seemed to tickle his veins as it flowed round his body and he shuddered. This was going to be a fascinating thing to be a part of, he thought to himself.

He'd always believed that candles, knives and things were used in magic rituals, at least, that's what he'd seen in late-night horror films on the television, but when he'd queried Lady earlier on this matter when she told him what items she needed for the ritual, she'd explained that it was all about symbolism and intent, and that as long as the lamps were lit and were of different coloured lenses, they would serve just as good as candles for the Cardinal Spirits she'd be invoking to focus themselves upon.

She'd also explained why she had chosen Thomas to be the "sacrifice", as he was the engine she was closest to through having twice saved her from peril - once from Diesel 10 some years ago, and now from the black foulness that had befallen upon her, so would be the better point of focus for _herself_ during the ritual. Unfortunately, she'd added, it would be quite a stressful ordeal for Thomas, as well as being quite painful for him, but it was a necessary requirement of the ritual and it would have to be done, and as long as everything went according to plan, he should survive. The possibility of losing yet another of his engines, especially Thomas, brought home to Sir Topham the severity of the situation they were all in, and the growing excitement he'd had since waking up that morning turned to a feeling of tightness in his stomach.

Lady'd then gone on to say that when she'd lost her magic and went to that Dark place, the connection between her and the rolling stock on Sodor had been completely severed, and if it wasn't for that last, tenuous connection she'd made with the young woman, she would have been lost forever. Unlike the original ritual that had been used to create her and Ivor, though, this one would be a much simpler one to perform, as it was only necessary for the rolling stock to be re-connected to her magic in order for them to be changed back into trains. There would be no need to mark any special runes or sigils on the ground or engines for this ritual as she could use the ones already existing on Thomas' body, and the magical energy she'd be sending out would connect with the magic locked inside the facets of the others, providing they stayed in their allocated places, that was.

ooo

Thomas stepped through the first gap, turned back round and knelt down. He used several handfuls of salt from the nearby small pile to complete the outermost circle before standing back up again. Suddenly, the salt-ring he had just completed flashed brightly and almost made him fall back in surprise, but he managed to regain his balance and stood up straight again to face Sir Topham and Lady as the now-glowing completed outer-circle surrounded him.

He realised now know what to expect and, as Lady continued to chant, he repeated the process another two times until he was standing completely inside three, brightly-glowing circles and facing Lady and Sir Topham again. He looked at them both while waiting patiently for the next instruction. Lady's headlamp was casting an eerie glow around Sir Topham, who was staring back at Thomas with an almost glazed look of fascination in his eyes, and he smiled at the railway owner to reassure him that, though still nervous, he felt just fine. Suddenly, he saw Lady open her eyes again as she said loudly, ~Servant Thomas, bare your chest and lie on your back between the rails!~

Gulping, his heart racing that, now, it was all actually happening, he unbuttoned his outer coat, his fingers fumbling over some of the little black discs, then his undershirt, and pulling apart the two layers to reveal his flesh. He looked at Sir Topham and saw the man's mouth fall open in shock at his scarred and branded chest. He then slowly lowered himself to the ground, still facing Lady, and laid back until he felt his head lightly bump the hard ground beneath him. He then glanced over to the rails on either side of him as they reflected the different-coloured glows from the railway lamps, the circles, and Lady's even-brighter headlamp, checking that he was aligned correctly between them.

He'd been unable to undo his coat buttons when first becoming a human, but as time went on and the last connection between Lady and the former engines faded away, their magic had withdrawn into their facets, which currently existed in a chakra-like state within their bodies, one at the base of the brain, the other at the base of the spine, and maintaining that individual's new form rather than their link to the railway. However, the former engines had later found that they could, if so desired, remove their clothing, and many a tale could be told of some of the situations those who had dared do so found themselves in whilst in that state, but that is another story! It was the fear of suddenly changing back into engines that had stopped the majority of them from doing such a thing, except for taking their gloves off now and again to eat food or to perform delicate tasks and, of course, to relieve themselves when nature called!

As he looked back up towards Lady and Sir Topham, he heard her call out, _**~Servants Henry, James and Percy, lay down on your chests between the rails!~**_

Thomas turned his head to look at his three friends, seeing them positioning themselves on the ground before the top of the rail next to him obscured his view, then he quickly looked back towards Lady when she said, _**~All of you, stretch out your arms and legs until your hands and feet are in firm contact with the metal rails.~**_

Apprehensively, he did as she instructed and opened his legs, lifting his feet over the rails and wedging the heels of his boots into the space between them and the shed floor, and spread his arms out, turning his wrists so that his hands could grip the rails on either side of him as well. His heart was beating fiercely inside his chest and he thought he could actually hear it when Lady then started chanting more of those strange-sounding words, this time, even louder, practically shouting, even, and he began to feel a bit dizzy, his head started to spin and he felt quite nauseous.

He heard her shouting ~Dragon! To your place!~, and in the corner of his eye he saw the red form of Idris rise up from the ground. In his increasing delirium, he thought the dragon looked like a flickering spectre as it stood staring at Lady for a moment. He wondered if his three friends were feeling sick and dizzy like _he_ was, and he closed his eyes to try and stop his head from spinning.

ooo

When he heard the curt demand from the magical engine, Idris felt his blood begin to boil, and a deep, coarse rumble emerged from his throat. As he got up onto his feet, he knew he had to put her in her place right then lest she begin to think her control over the ritual may include trying to gain control over _him_, so he sent a message...

_**##Hear this, Lady, and hear it well, for I am NOT, and NEVER WILL be trapped in a cage like you had my father, so be warned now, woman! You may have been of royal birth, and though I dislike what I am to do for you this night, I do it of my own FREE will, and NOT at the call of your harsh words. You know I can bring an end to all of this right now if I so choose!##**_

_He_ wasn't one of her bewitched acolytes to command as she pleased, Idris thought to himself. His father's memories had shown him many dark deeds they'd forced him to carry out in their corrupted abuse of Earth Magic, but unlike the way his father had been compelled and, despite his misgivings, he had _agreed_ to participate in the ritual, so he would keep his word. He knew that the magical engine knowing exactly _what_ he could do should he be forced to would be enough to quell any desire she may have to impose her Will upon him!

He padded over to the circles surrounding Thomas, stopping exactly opposite the magical engine and just a couple of paces from the outermost glowing circle, then, focusing his own magic, he set his body to vibrate at an incredibly high rate, transforming himself into a red, ghost-like mist. A red finger of that mist-like substance then extended from where his snout would have been until it touched the air directly above the outermost circle. In less time than a blink of an eye, the red mist was seemingly sucked into the gap between the first and second glowing rings, touching the inner edge of the first one and forming itself into a red dome that completely covered the consecrated area of ground.

A few seconds later, the mist-finger extended itself again to touch the air above the second-most circle of light, and in a repeat of the first time it had occurred, the red dome turned to a mist and was drawn into the space between the second and third glowing circles before reappearing again as a dome, but this time slightly smaller. This process was repeated a third time until the red mist was completely inside the innermost circle before reforming itself into the familiar shape of the dragon that now stood just a couple of yards behind Thomas' head.

ooo

Sir Topham was absolutely amazed at what he was seeing. Lady had told him of the importance of the salt circles in containing and channelling the railway magic, and that should the circles be broken during the ritual, the consequences would be _most_ severe for everyone involved, not to mention the rest of the island, she'd gone on to say!

He nodded slowly to himself when he realised that the dragon, in the form of a red mist, was "filtering" itself through the protected ritual space, and smiled at the cleverness of it. Because the dragon couldn't pierce the protective domes without dooming them all, it had had to attune its very essence to match that of the magic within them in order to safely get through them. As he waited to see what would happen next, the red dome disappeared for a third time, before reappearing in the dragon's original form near Thomas' head.

ooo

Thomas had seen the red dome appearing and disappearing above him, and was wondering what was going on. He could see it getting nearer to him, but didn't know what was going to happen once it was inside the circle _he_ was in, and when he sensed something behind him, he tilted his head back to look and gasped with alarm.

##Do not be frightened, not-man, for all is as it should be. I am... sorry for what I am about to do to you.##

Thomas hadn't been this frightened since being chased by Diesel 10 over that rickety bridge all those years ago, but felt the sensation of peace and tranquillity coming from the dragon when it had spoken to him. _What's he going to do that's making him feel sorry,_ he wondered, and as he looked up at the underside of the dragon's large jaw, he saw the creature's head pointing towards Lady.

ooo

Lady cared about the engines, but after James had recently told her of his and Thomas' dreams, she knew that too much information about certain things was coming to light, and it was vital she kept the details of the magic railway's origins from the engines' awareness. The railway staff wouldn't be able to reveal anything of what they saw tonight as it would fall under the auspices of Company Business, but she couldn't do anything about Ivor's two friends as they were protected by the dragon's magic. Jeanie Watkins was also a problem, and she was relieved that the young woman she had helped wasn't here to witness the ritual as her weak connection to the railway magic might not be able to stop her from talking about it to outsiders. _I have to do what I must_, Lady thought to herself, then she spoke...

_**~Thomas, you are my dear, dear friend,~**_ she said softly, _**~and once this is all over and you and your friends are engines again, it will be as though the past week never happened to any of you.~**_

Knowing full well what the uncontrolled dragon was capable of, she knew she daren't antagonise the creature any further, so, in the same gentle tone, she said then, ~Idris, please, be ready,~ and started chanting the Words of Power that would begin the ritual's next stage.

ooo

Thomas began to lose awareness of where he was, but he had heard the reassuring words Lady had spoken to him and he relaxed slightly, but his brief moment of peace was broken when he saw the dragon suddenly raise one of its forelegs and extend one of its claws before drawing it across his chest in two, very quick, diagonal strokes.

He'd almost giggled when he felt the two caress-like touches against his skin, and thought that the dragon had just tickled him, but then he saw a thin, red "X" appear on his scarred chest, and as he voiced a surprised "Uh?", he suddenly felt as though a white-hot flame from an oxy-acetylene burner had been set on him, burning through him and he let out a scream at the excruciating agony that tore at him. His wild, staring eyes tried to make contact with Lady's to beg the question of why did she let the dragon _do_ that to him, after all, hadn't she just told him he was her dear friend, but she wouldn't be able to see him as her eyes were closed and she was chanted more Words of Power.

ooo

Henry had watched Thomas make his way through the three circles and been fascinated as the salt-rings flashed into light. As Thomas had been unbuttoning his clothing, Henry'd thought he, James and Percy would have to do the same, but Lady's command to them made no mention of doing that, only to lay down on their chest, so, hoping he was doing it right, he laid himself down, glancing over to the other two to see if they were doing the same as him.

He couldn't wait to be an engine again, and wondered how long the ritual would take before he once more could feel the iron rails under his rolling wheels. It had been really weird for him being a human, as he'd been having the most unusual thoughts and memories going through his mind, especially the one of the time when he'd had to chase after some poachers he'd come across badger-baiting in his Lordship's forest. That memory had ended most unusually though, as after they'd heard him approach them and run away, when he'd been almost about to catch up with the slowest of them, the man had stopped running, turned round _and shot him in the chest with a bloody shotgun!_

The pain had been really bad as the small pellets of lead entered his chest, and he'd been blasted onto his back by the force of it. As the pain in his chest started to fade away, he'd thought he could get back up and continue chasing after them, especially the bastard that had shot him, but he'd felt so sleepy then and sounds of shouting as the poachers called to each other were getting quieter and quieter as he began to become confused and then everything went black.

Henry then heard the next instruction, and stretched out his arms and legs whilst resting his forehead on the ground beneath him and waited, almost letting go of the rails he was holding on to when he heard the most terrifying scream coming from Thomas...

ooo

James was thrilled. After the past week of the most exciting adventure he'd ever been on, the reason for it was happening right now!

As he held tight to the rails next to him he felt his head start to spin, and it reminded him of that strange dream he'd had, the one when he'd been in the old hospital and had fallen down and been sick all over his freshly-cleaned floor. The nurses in their long gowns had ran over to him and carried him over to a bed and washed the sick off him and given him some water to drink, but he'd coughed most of it back up, and one of the nurses had gone off to fetch one of the doctors.

He heard the other nurses talking about how sad it was that he'd caught the cholera that was going around, but he didn't think that it was him they were talking about as he was quite fit and strong, despite the bare diet of bread, a few biscuits he could just about afford to buy. The water the nurses had given him tasted a lot better than what he was used to drinking, though, and he hadn't seen any bits floating in it, either, not like the water he drew from the pump down the bottom of the street where he lived, anyway.

He'd had that particular dream a couple of times, and it had always ended when he'd been laying in the bed and started coughing up blood before everything around him went black.

Talking of dreams, James thought to himself, Lady still hadn't said anything else to him about the dreams he'd told her he and Thomas were having, _but then again_, he thought, _I could always ask her once I'm an engine again._ Any further thoughts on his dreams were brought to an abrupt halt just then when he heard the most terrifying scream coming from Thomas, but before he could raise his head and look at what was happening to his friend, everything around him started to go black. _Just like in my dreams, _he thought before succumbing to the darkness enveloping him_... _

ooo

Percy struggled to maintain his hold on the railway lines next to him. It wasn't _his_ fault he was short and could only just about reach them! It reminded him of that he had of when he was a young boy in boarding school and the other boys had tied him to some trees in the woods off the school grounds and left him there all day.

He'd ended up peeing himself because they didn't come back and untie him so that he could go to the toilet, well, behind one of the trees, at least, to relieve himself. Being a schoolboy he'd been wearing shorts, and he could both see and feel his wet sock, but it had got worse for him when it began to get darker as evening drew in, as the sounds and cries of the nocturnal woodland animals were really scaring him and he was beginning to feel quite frightened all alone as he was, especially when he felt something brush against his leg and tickle the skin of his leg, the same one his pee had run down earlier. What was worse was that whatever it was that touched had made him shit himself as it had been too dark for him to see that it was just a fox and not something scary.

Later on, he heard twigs being snapped as someone walked over them, and he thought it was the older boys coming to untie him, but all he could see were glowing lumps floating in the darkness, and they were getting nearer to him! He started crying and he thought he heard someone laugh, but next thing, a scary face appeared in front of him, lit up by the glowing lump, and it screamed in a loud voice that he was a scaredy-cat and a coward, just like the screaming he realised he could hear Thomas making, and Percy started to cry when, again he shit himself as everything around him went dark and pictured himself in those woods again and the nasty older boys were coming nearer to him...

ooo

Idris studied the red, X-shaped cut now linking together four of the runes branded into the not-man's flesh, and he was pleased to see that he'd done it right, but as he listened to the Words of Power being spoken by the magical engine, one particular series of Words caused him to prick his ears. He frowned, _That is... not right_, and sensed that a great wrong was about to be done by the despised engine. His mind racing, he knew he had to stop it, and looked quickly back down at the uncut runes on the not-man's body, studying them until... _Yes, that's it by there!_ He'd found what he was looking for.

It was a complex bind-rune made up of two smaller but equally significant bind-runes: one that signified a new beginning free of clutter of past ties, the other, the one he loathed, the Mark of Obedience. _When the time is right, _he thought to himself, but then he suddenly realised, not without some delight, that he would be gaining revenge for his father at the same time!

Forsaking the vow against the Hatt bloodline after finding the current railway owner to be a man of good intent had really galled him, but what he was about to do, he thought to himself as he waited, would be a balanced reaction for what his father had been forced to endure and, in the end, cause him to die well before his time.

To Idris' way of thinking, he was in the right, but, paradoxically, he was also in the wrong after having relieved Sir Topham of his bloodline's burden, and his act of revenge was made known, he would be seen as dishonourable. To counter this, he rationalised to himself, he would be carrying out a counter-measure against the magical engine in order to maintain his own emotional balance, and not against Sir Topham to whom he had given his word, and thus, he decided, the paradox no longer conflicted him and he was free to do as he wished.

Cause and effect, action and reaction, life and death – to Idris, everything was an eternal, well- balanced cycle, and it was the Way. It was the very mechanics of the universe itself and should not have been interfered with in the way those humans had done many decades ago. Although he abhorred the existence of the magical railway and the other magical systems that had been created by them and their ilk, the man-made systems were now integrated into the earth's Life Force, and the Mother's balance had to be maintained as best it could despite those abominations, besides, to destroy those systems could be compared to biting chunks out of his own body, and how he would feel after he did something like _that_ to himself!

The Life-Spirits snatched from their eternal cycle by the railway's creators were too damaged now to be returned there and await their natural re-birth, and all he could really do this night was to assist the magical engine to regain her lost connection to the transformed engines. If he refused and allowed them to remain as they were, the magical energy contained within their facets that gave them the Spark of Life would begin to eat away at them, destroying their Life-Spirit from the inside and leave them forever in a spiritual Hell, a state of conflicting energetic chaos that their sense of self-identity would perceive as eternal pain, and it was for that reason alone he couldn't allow them to remain in their not-human forms.

It had also saddened him to hear the engine speak those particular Words, for it showed she didn't really comprehend what she was doing with the magic she had foolishly immersed herself in. The earth's mystical energies were too complicated for humans to fully understand, let alone comprehend. What the magical engine was planning would mean forever separating them from the cycle of life, scarring them for eternity, and he didn't agree to that.

As he watched the other runes on the not-man's skin being covered by the blood from the open cuts, Lady's chanting raising to reach an ear-piercing crescendo that matched the not-man's wailing, the part of the ritual's final stage that called to him, demanding union between the four elemental forces he and the magical engine manifested between themselves. Once that union took place, the transformation of the former engines would start.

Forming that union, though, would make him complicit in this travesty of earth magic, but he had already made his decision as far as _that_ was concerned, and for as long as Lady maintained that one, single tone as she waited for his response, she would be insensate in her state of magical imbalance, and unable to perceive the world around her, and, Idris knew, that that was when he'd strike!

It would be his one and only chance to thwart her plan without her being aware of what he'd done, and so, raising the same claw he'd used to cut open the not-man's chest, he extended its bloody talon and, as the former engine's body arched in its pain-ridden torment, he acted, twisting his claw to get the cutting-angle just right and swiping it upwards in a fast stroke, his razor-sharp talon cutting all the way through the complex bind-rune and disabling its magical potential, but the not-man's body twisted slightly away from this new assault, and Idris had to change the angle of his cut, but he twisted his claw just a tad too much and his needle-point talon left a series of scores along the former engine's ribs.

Blood poured from the V-shaped cut, gathering in between his outer garments until it spilled over onto the ground, forming a black pool, it's macabre shade caused by the combination of coloured lights that illuminated this nightmare-inducing scene.

ooo

The young boy woke up with a start, not knowing how long he'd been sleeping, but from the loud noise filling the air outside, something big was going on outside. Getting up from between the smelly boxes and the weighbridge's measuring scales, he peeped out of the window, his mouth falling open in fear as weird lights shone through the window of the engine shed where he'd been staying with Henry, and that weird noise and the screaming... _It's the monster attacking everyone!_ He had to run away! His panicking mind told to run to the woods next to the marshalling yards to make his escape. _It's bloody lucky_, he thought to himself, _that I've got legs to run with now!_

Quietly, he made his way over the door to the weighbridge and slowly opened it, hoping the monster wouldn't sense him and come out of the engine shed to kill him as well. He started to slowly sneak past the engine shed towards the forest, but the loud screech of a foraging barn owl in the sky above and behind him made him cry out in alarm, and fearing that the monster in the shed was after him, he started to race across the tracks.

As he fled his terror, glancing behind him for any sign of the beast but not seeing it, his foot caught under a rail and he fell forward. He tried to twist his leg to regain his balance but lost his footing, and as the effort he put into the turn proved to be too much for his young bones to bear, he felt pain shoot up his leg as his right shin-bone snapped and the jagged-end of the bottom bone cut its way out through his skin. The pain was just too much for his young mind to cope with and he passed out as he fell, narrowly escaping a fatal bang to his head from the metal rail under him but breaking two of his ribs.

ooo

Sir Topham raged inside as he saw Thomas being mauled like that in what he considered to be truly the most barbaric torture imaginable, and he desperately wanted to voice his protest to Lady at what she was allowing the dragon to do, but from the suddenly increasing volume of her chanting, it seemed that the ritual was about to reach an important stage, but he'd been told by her not to interfere in any way whatsoever. The last thing he wanted right then was to invite a disaster upon them all by distracting her, so he stayed silent but frustrated, hoping... for what, he didn't know, but he just hoped that all this would somehow turn out right in the end.

His emotions felt like they were on a never-ending rollercoaster as wonder and horror toyed with him like a rag doll, swapping places when he least expected it, for as he'd frustratingly turned back to face Lady, his grief, despite Thomas' screams filling his ears, was now transformed to silent and rapt wonder again, for as Lady's chanting began to increase in tempo, he saw the magical engine start to glow, and within seconds, become so bright that he had to close his eyes lest he be blinded. When he thought he could open them again, the bright light made him blink rapidly as he turned away, and something peculiar happened to him. Instead of seeing the after-image of the brightly-glowing engine on the back of his eyelids, the image he _did_ see was that of a naked, long-haired woman standing with outstretched arms, and as he glanced at the brilliantly-glowing magical engine again, and again rapidly blinking against the light, her mouth wide open as she voiced her Words of Power.

He closed his eyes again, this time, though, keeping them shut for several seconds, but all he saw was a dim blob of coloured lights, the spectral opposites of the glowing engine's colours. He opened them, only for the intensity of the light to force them shut again. He repeated the rapid-blinking, and saw the same woman reappear again in the brief moments his eyes were closed, and he realised then that, somehow, it was only when he was blinking that he could actually see her. His mouth fell open when it became obvious to him, and he laughed almost manically at the simple truth that was being revealed to him. What he was seeing was the reality of the magical engine's form, for the naked, long-haired woman that appeared when he blinked was the one in the old photographs he had in his study at Hatt Hall!

ooo

Idris wasn't sure if what he'd just done would carry through to the other not-people once they were turned back, or how the extra damage he'd done to the not-man would affect him once he was an engine again, nevertheless, he lowered his head and, as the ear-deafening scream and ritual chant destroyed the night-time silence outside the engine shed, he lowered his head and focused his gaze into the not-man's pain-filled eyes.

ooo

Thomas felt the newest addition to his torture as a hard, icy scrape against his side just before a fresh wave of intense pain engulfed him. He thought his ribs had been smashed in by whatever the dragon had again done to him. As he screamed even louder, his throat now raw and bleeding inside and almost choking him as he drew in fresh breath to vent his agony, his lungs felt like shredded rags, and his tormented mind couldn't comprehend why his friend Lady was letting this... this _thing_ happen to him. Was _this_ his reward for saving her from disaster not once but _twice?_

He then saw the dragon's head looming closer to him, but the signals travelling along his optic nerves failed to get through to his brain as it was overloaded with despair and just couldn't deal with anything else right now, but somewhere in the subconscious depths of his mind, he began to fear for his very existence, that he was about to have his head bitten off, but all the dragon did was to whisper something to him, the words being received as a short piece of music that contained information.

The words were sharp and clear in his screaming mind, but their meaning not understood. _What did he mean?_ _Why was Lady allowing all this?_ He wanted to ask the dragon to explain what its words meant, but it had stepped back and he could no longer see it.

ooo

Sir Topham looked round the engine shed, wondering if anyone else could see the woman, and saw both of the welshmen staring at the magical engine, and judging by the look on their faces, it was pretty obvious that they could, and Burnett? Where had _he_ gone to? Sir Topham saw him, then, kneeling on the ground with a look of adulation all over his face, as if he'd seen the woman of his dreams. _Maybe he has_, he thought to himself, but then, seconds after as the magical engine's chant changed pitch to become a continuous, ear-piercing tone rivalling that of Thomas, a level no human voice could reach, let alone maintain as she was doing right now.

He was torn what to look at next, the naked woman alternating with the magical engine as he blinked against its brilliance, or his suffering friend inside the glowing circles. Choosing to watch Thomas, what he saw made him wonder what in hell was the dragon doing now?

ooo

Idris didn't know if the pain-wracked not-man was aware of the silent message he'd just given him, but that one final Word of Power was still calling him, and he could feel his blood tingling as it demanded he fulfil a need so basic it had populated the earth with countless numbers of lifeforms. He reared up onto his back legs, at the same time taking in a very, very deep breath filling his lungs with oxygen-containing air...

ooo

Through bleary, tear-filled eyes, Thomas saw the dragon open its jaws and take a breath... a very deep breath... and despite the hellish torture he was suffering, he realised exactly what that act implied, and was once more filled with dread.

ooo

The dragon waited whilst the glands in his throat, forced into a highly-active state by his anger at what he was to do here, and driven by his adrenaline-filled body to secrete their highly-combustive, oxygen-consuming emissions in copious volumes, then, when everything felt just right, he extended his wings wide into the air and let out a powerful breath of incandescent flame that completely incinerated the former engine's body.

ooo

Thomas knew he was going to die as a cloud of brilliant-white flame spewed out from those massive jaws, but, strangely, in the brief moment it took for the dragon's fiery breath to burn his body to its very core, his pain went away as though it was never there and he felt nothing as everything around him went black.

ooo

Sir Topham crumpled to the floor as he saw the dragon immolate Thomas' body, and sat there with his head in his hands, grief-stricken at his loss and beyond fury at this... this act of cold-blooded _murder!_

ooo

Idris folded his wings back as he lowered himself onto his haunches, and, after taking in another deep breath, started to sing the Song of Life, his answering call to the demand that the elements he manifested within himself, Fire and Air, unite with those of the magical engine, Earth and Water, in order to create the fifth, the one that would complete the ritual, the Spirit of Life.

ooo

Gemma woke as her sister's body suddenly stiffened next to her. She had insisted to Jeanie that they both sleep in her double bed that night. Maybe, she'd suggested when her sister had her asked why, she had replied that having company while she slept could maybe prevent her from having another nightmare, a suggestion that Jeanie had happily accepted, and given her older sister a hug in appreciation.

Fearing her sister was having another nightmare and was about to cry out, Gemma was surprised, and somewhat relieved when Jeanie's body then completely relaxed, and it didn't take her that long to fall back to sleep as she cuddled up to her, whispering a quiet "Goodnight, Sis" and pulling the quilt back over their shoulders.

ooo

As Sir Topham looked back up, his face ran with tears from not only his grief, but also from the combination of the dragon's beatific song and Lady's single-toned Word to create a rapturous harmony that filled the air not only inside but also outside the engine shed, but he somehow managed to gasp in surprise, for in the centre of the glowing circles where he had last seen Thomas, there was now a white, man-sized and oval-shaped husk that reflected the coloured glows from the four lamps and the circles as it turned itself inside out like a whirling cloud. It was doing this slowly at first, but then started to speed up faster and faster. Indeed, when he then glanced over to where Henry, James and Percy were laying, he saw that they, too, had taken on this new form and were spinning just like Thomas'. He'd been so focused on his own grief that he hadn't even noticed any of them change into husks!

Getting up to his feet, he continued to watch as all four of the husks, rather, clouds twisted themselves inside-out, then, coloured sparkles started appearing inside them, their bright flashing fascinating him as they whirled about within the twisting clouds.

Next, he saw some larger shapes begin to form alongside the sparkles, long and flat and short and big, a mixed combination of shapes of blue and black and red and yellow and grey, all sorts of colours indeed! Thomas' "cloud", though, seemed to be dominated by the blue shapes, whilst Henry's and Percy's clouds contained more green than anything else. He guess was confirmed when he looked at James' cloud and saw it filling with a multitude of red shapes, and he smiled as he wiped his tears away from his cheeks.

Being an engineer himself, with a lifetime of experience both working with and driving steam engines, he recognised the shapes and forms for what they were... engine parts, and he knew just what he was seeing take place in front of him - his engines were actually being_ rebuilt_ inside the whirling, twisting clouds!

As he stared back at Thomas' twisting and writhing cloud, it looked as though the furthest part its outer layer was being peeled back over itself and drawn to the front as though switching itself around, and he glanced quickly at the other three to see if the same thing was happening to them, but it wasn't, it was only happening to Thomas', and he recalled then that Thomas had been laying in his back when the other three were laying face down. Yes, he thought to himself, the Ritual Magic was actually turning Thomas' growing engine form round the right way or else the engine would end up upside-down and facing the rear of the engine shed! _"Truly amazing!"_ he muttered quietly to himself at the wonder of it.

The four whirling clouds then started to increase in size, growing until even the dragon had to back away from it, and Sir Topham feared it was going to break the salt-rings and kill them all, but as it still continued to sing that euphoric song, it suddenly dissolved into that same red mist from before, and his view of Thomas' swirling cloud was replaced by flashing red domes before a streak of red speared itself through his chest and out of his back towards Lady.

He turned yet again to Lady, but she was now surrounded by a brightly-glowing white "globe", and though he still had to use his raised arm to shield his eyes, he was just in time to see the red "spear" started to race around the circumference of the globe around Lady and merge with it, similar to how it had got through the protective circles.

The glowing red of the dragon and the bright white of the magical engine then started to whirl round in the same way the engines' were, and not only that, but they started to pulse and throb, first alternately and then together as the two magical forms synchronised their merging.

Sir Topham knew nothing of the union being formed by the four earth-elements, but after staring for a while at the dragon and engine's actions, he realised, muttering a startled "My word!" at the same time, that what was being done in front of him was a _very_ intimate act indeed! He realised also that he was staring, not wanting to blink for fear of what he might actually see, and so glanced over to the two welshmen in Ivor's cab. Mr Jones was watching the activity going on alongside him with an embarrassed look on his face, and Mr Dinwiddy was letting out the odd giggle now and again as he just stood there, smiling and nodding his head.

As the combined Song and Word that had captivated them all began to increase in pitch even more, Sir Topham became quite agitated, not wanting to impose even his sight on what was going on behind his back, but when the sound reached its climax, there was a flash of _something_ in the air around them, as whatever it was, it certainly wasn't light, for he, and no doubt the two welshmen as well, had been unable to see anything at all as their eyes simply couldn't focus on the "magical" light created by the union of magical and elemental forces. It was the three humans' first experience of being in the presence of the Spirit of Life.

Just moments after, the three humans found they could see again, the proof of that being the glowing rail tracks on either side of Sir Topham started to glow, and Sir Topham took in all that was going on around him, hearing the words of the translation in his mind...

'_Great Darkness strikes down the Pure One. She is stricken by the Destroyer. The Pure One shall not this time take of the Birth Water, She to drink of the Mother herself. Eternal is the Well of the Mother, Eternal is the Product of Her Well. The Winged Beast, born the way of the bird but not of the bird. He that possess the Coat of Blood, Pure is his Song. He to hold within himself the Eternal Element and The Burning Rock. Sacred is He that devours, for She shall breathe the Spirit of Life anew.' _

... and he saw how everything had fitted together to bring about this... this incredible night, and pure elation filled his heart as he felt the Spirit of Life pass from Lady and Idris and through him on to Thomas.

He felt a lump form in his throat at the beauty and splendour of what he was witnessing. This was real magic being performed before his very eyes and he knew he would never forget this night as long as he lived! He was about to turn to the magical engine behind him to comment on this thought of his, but, bearing the "mystical" act she and the dragon were still performing together, he just smiled and let them get on with it, choosing instead to enjoy the pleasure of watching four of his engines return to him.

The result of the magical forces successfully uniting then became apparent when the rails leading out of the engine shed all started to glow as well, in fact, every piece of rail track outside of the shed was now shining as though painted with bright fluorescent paint, even the ones that Jones the Steam and Mr Dinwiddy could see stretching into the distance towards Knapford Station! _This_ was what Lady must have meant by sending her magic to the other former engines, Sir Topham thought to himself.

Anyone flying in a plane over Sodor at that moment would have been amazed to see what looked like a series of white lines raced around the island and touch a multitude of shiny ants' eggs laid out in orderly fashion over the island's railway tracks before they then began to change colour and form.

They'd no doubt have concluded that they must have been seeing things when all the "ants' eggs" were suddenly replaced by railway rolling stock, but for three humans inside the engine shed at Tidmouth marshalling yards, it was definitely all for real as, with a series of muffled "thuds" that were no doubt repeated all over Sodor and make the island's inhabitants think that a thunder storm was approaching, the swirling clouds of blue, red, green and black all suddenly disappeared.

Left in their place for a brief moment were four large "gaps" in the vision-processing part of their brain where they were trying to look at an unperceivable void, then suddenly, as the glowing rail tracks reverted back to their normal dirty-grey colour, four simultaneous and loud, metallic "clunks" marked the arrival of four steam engines that Sir Topham knew to be Thomas, Henry, James and Percy, only, he couldn't see their faces.

The four engines that had miraculously appeared before their very eyes were, to Sir Topham, just as they'd been when he'd seen them last before The Event. Their bodywork reflected the light from the circles that surrounded Thomas, and Sir Topham almost ran to touch the blue tank engine, but stopped himself just short of the outermost protective salt circle. He turned to look at Lady, unaware of the four coloured signal lamps and the three circles extinguishing themselves, and saw that she had returned to her engine form, and the dragon was perched on top of her cab.

If Sir Topham didn't know any better, he'd say the creature was looking quite disgusted with itself, but Lady, guessing correctly what he was about to ask her, smiled at him as she said, _**~Yes, Sir Topham, it is now safe to break the circles.~**_

Turning back to face the blue tank engine, he went over to stand between the engine's front buffers and reached his arms out to touch both of them at the same time, sighing with pleasure and joy as he felt his fingers come into contact with the cold, hard metal. _Yes_, he thought to himself. _I've got my old friend back just as he was_.

If a mechanic had been asked to check the engines over, he'd have declared the four of them as physically and mechanically sound, well, except for the angled gouge he saw down the length of one of Thomas' chassis members which, for the life of him, he couldn't remember ever seeing before. Taking that into consideration, though, he'd tell his employer, the blue tank engine should still be able to operate as it had before it had changed into a human.

_"Thomas?"_ Sir Topham called out apprehensively. _"Can_ _you hear me?"_

He then turned to the three other engines, calling out each of their names in turn, but not one of them answered him back. Their smokebox doors looked black and shiny just as they would to an outsider, and as he waited impatiently for a response from one of them, all four of the now-restored engines remained silent and motionless, cold and unfeeling. Sir Topham turned to face Lady, his arms outstretched in a gesture of hopelessness and a look of confused despair on his face as he asked her, _"Did... did the Ritual go wrong somehow?"_

Just then, one of the fitters ran into the engine shed shouting, _"Sir Topham! You should have seen it! The rails were all lit up like a Christmas tree!"_

Distracted for a moment by the man's shout, he looked back at Thomas, but no matter how much new sensations he'd felt that night during the ritual, the one feeling he wasn't getting right now was the recognition of sentience within the blue tank engine, and he just couldn't understand why. If it was the case that he had all his engines back but with no intelligence, no ability to talk or reason with him, well, he may as well be playing with a toy train set than run a proper railway system. The other railway owners around the UK, the world, even, they probably consider him a laughing stock, but he didn't care about that, all he cared about at the moment was that they weren't the engines he'd known and loved for almost a lifetime.

He thought he'd heard a noise outside and someone cursing, but assumed it was another of the fitters stumbling over something, he turned back to the magical engine, his heart feeling as cold as the buffers he'd not long been touching, and said quietly, _"They're all dead, Lady, as dead as can be!"_

ooo

Within the surreal weirdness that was one of Gemma's normal dreams, she thought she could hear someone crying... _Oh, again?_ she asked herself as she came awake, realising that it was her sister that was doing the crying. The digital clock on her bedside chest of drawers showed it was eleven minutes past three in the morning, and after reaching over to turn on the lamp next to it, she turned back to face her sister to see the back of her shoulders shaking as she wept, the sound of her muffled sobbing quite upsetting to Gemma as she reached over to clasp hold of one of her hands.

The action caused Jeanie to turn over to acknowledge her older sister, her face a picture of misery as she mumbled something incoherent to Gemma.

_"What was that, Sis?"_ she asked softly. _"What's the matter? Were you having another bad dream?"_

_"No,"_ Jeanie croaked hoarsely, her throat raw after crying for most of the night. _"It... it's the engines, Gemma... They're... they're all dead!"_

ooo

Careful not to draw attention to himself as he stood on an oil drum as he peered through the dirty window into the engine shed, Tiberius Hatt became livid when the brightly-glowing cocoons disappeared to leave four fully-restored steam engines in their stead. This was disastrous to him!

He'd suspected that Sir Topham had sent that young woman and two of his former engines off on some mission to save the magical engine, but, when the bus driver had called him the other night to say they were back, and that they had the accursed magical engine with them, he knew then that his plan to destroy Sodor Railways was buggered. His only option now was to fall back to his original plan, the one he'd put off when the idea of a Super Roadway on the island had entered his mind. It would mean a delay to his negotiations with the Council, though, but once he had all the information he needed, it would be time to get Tyrone moving again!

He heard the mechanic tell the old fool there was nothing wrong with the engines and cursed softly to himself. Deciding to leave before any more of his employees came wandering over and discovered him, he started to climb down from the oil drum. The dark corner formed by the side of the shed and an out-house where he was spying from was too dark for him to see where he was placing his foot, and all his weight suddenly being put onto the edge of the small two-gallon can he'd used to climb up tipped it over, and he fell backwards to the ground.

"_SHIT!"_ he cried out, realising too late that he'd most likely been heard by those inside the shed. Picking himself up quickly, he rubbed at his aching backside as he hobbled over the rails towards his car parked in the narrow lane that ran alongside the marshalling yards.

As he worked his way over the tracks, he looked forward to the warmth of its heaters, grinning at the irony of how both he and his half-brother wanted to have their engines running. His smile disappeared, though, as he muttered quietly, _"Don't you worry, Sir Topham, this isn't over yet!"_

ooOOoo

2


	31. Chapter 31

Chapter 31

_"What...?"_ asked Gemma, confused by her sister's outburst. _"What do you mean 'They're all dead!'? They're machines, girl, they were never alive in the first place! The only dead ones are the ones in the scrap yards or wherever they send them to, what, be cut up or melted down or whatever! Dead railway engines, I ask you!"_

Although Gemma loved her sister and would do anything, well, _almost_ anything for her, she was beginning to feel out of her depth with her night-time breakdowns and annoyed at her own lack of knowledge with how to deal with this sort of thing. She knew what stress was and how people got to suffer from it, and that was about it, and she knew she was seeing it in her sister's behaviour, after all, she'd started a job with no prior experience in the industry and then sent all around the country to get some special part or whatever it was they needed to fix their equipment! _God_, Gemma wondered, _don't they have special departments for that sort of thing? Why send a young woman fresh out of uni on an errand like _that_?_

Then, as Gemma listened to her sister's self-recrimination on how she'd let "them all down" by forgetting about the ritual - _A ritual?_ _What the fuck?_ - and more weird stuff about magic and transformations, it was beginning to really frighten her.

When they'd talked earlier that evening, Jeanie had told her some really wacky stuff about earth-energy lines and other mumbo-jumbo about spiritual forces and magical aspects or whatever, and how they can affect people's minds. _It's certainly affected her mind if she's suddenly got into all _that_ sort of rubbish_, Gemma had thought. She'd even drawn some weird shape on a sheet of paper, undone her bandage and_ picked at her scab until it bled_ and let it drip onto it! A _"Lattice of Well-Being"_ she'd said it was!

It had taken the entirety of Gemma's self-control to stop herself from slapping her sister there and then to bring an end to all this nonsense as, looking quite put out, Jeanie puzzled over why the blooded sheet of paper did nothing more than lie flat on the kitchen table! Now, though, all Gemma wanted was let herself burst into tears at her inability to cope with all this, but she had to stay strong and deal with it as best she could, so she wrapped her arms around Jeanie, and said, _"Let it go, girl. It... it'll be alright in the morning."_ _I hope!_

Since leaving home to live in Knapford, Gemma had met quite a selection of people and made friends with several of them. Unfortunately, though, none of them had anything to do with mental health, and she wished there was _someone_ she knew who could come over and talk with her sister, but just then, she inhaled with a gasp as the image of a short and thin Indian girl popped into her mind, and the name _Divya Tambe... YES! _

Divya was a classmate from secondary school, and although she was a well-liked and friendly member of the clique Gemma used to hang around with back then, one thing she did which sometimes irritated her and the others was when she often complained about how her father was always pushing her to do well in her exams and go on to medical school in order to be a top doctor one day.

As was the case, Divya ended up going to medical school, in fact, the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London, _though God knows where she is now_, Gemma thought, but it was worth a shot to see if she could get Divya's phone number from her father, Kavi, and use their former friendship to see if she had any medical contacts in St. Tibba's who could squeeze Jeanie into an early appointment with a shrink... or therapy or something. The only problem was that it was way too late in the night to go phoning old school friends and ask them for a favour, especially when you hadn't spoken to them since secondary school! It would have to wait until the morning, she told herself, but until then, all she could do was to comfort her sister until she cried herself back to sleep.

ooo

The pain Thomas felt was excruciating, and he wished he would die soon for it to all stop, and part of him wondered why he couldn't even pass out instead of enduring this torture, but just then, competing against his agonised screams, was the faint impression of the dragon telling him something, though he couldn't make any sense of it. Just seconds later, though, he felt as though he was being pulled out of his body before finding himself floating in a black, no, not black, just... nothing, a temperature-less, intangible void of pure nothing, and mercifully, he realised his pain had stopped as well. Senseless to anything except his own existence as his Life Spirit floated within this dark void, he heard Lady's voice speaking to him...

_**Thomas, very soon, I will be uniting with the other two Elementals for the next part of the ritual, but I have taken your consciousness outside of the flow of time in order to tell you how deeply sorry I am for what you are going through right now. You have to understand, my friend, it is a very necessary requirement before the transformation can be initiated, which is what the union between my own and those within the dragon will bring about. **_

_**I want you to be happy, Thomas, for it's thanks to you and your friends that I was saved and am here to restore you all, but please, do not hold any anger or hatred towards the dragon. Despite the creature that he is, I know he has your best interest at heart. I also know you and he have become, in a sense, friendly with each other, but there is a coldness within his thinking that, if you allow it to influence you, only more harm can follow. I can't go into the details of it with you as it's very obscure and ancient magic, magic that goes back further than the formation of this planet, even. Since I became part of that magic during Lady's creation, Thomas, there is much that I have learned about the universe we exist in, and still much more to learn again.**_

_But... YOU'RE Lady, aren't you? What... what are you trying to tell me? Who...WHAT are you, Lady?_

_**My human form can be seen by Sir Topham and the others if they know how to look properly. The old man, Mr Dinwiddy, told you about me, Thomas, remember the naked woman he saw when he was a young boy?**_

_That... that was YOU, Lady?_

_**Yes, Thomas, that was me. I was a real person once, and so, too, were you, Thomas. Those weren't just dreams you and the others were having, Thomas, they were your real memories. You were all alive once, as alive as Sir Topham is now, but when you died in that life, Thomas, your Life Spirit was chosen to inhabit the engine you later woke up in. **_

_So... so you say I was a real human before... and... did I really have a FAMILY... and CHILDREN?_

_**You can see them for yourself, Thomas. For the courage and bravery you showed in saving me, I'm letting you see moments from that life once more. Get ready, my friend, for there are a billion-fold for you to choose from... **_

His mind whirling in confusion at what he'd just been told, Thomas tried to think of a reply, something to ask, anything to try and make some sense of this... this revelation, but words failed him as one by one, little white specks of light started to appear around him, shining in the unperceivable void like stars in the night sky until he was completely surrounded, and each of the little specks of light seemed to be calling to him to take hold of what they contained...

As he deliberated over which one he should reach for and how to do this seeing as he didn't have any hands or arms, he felt his entire presence start to tremble as a double-beat pulse started, calming his rising anxiety with its strange familiarity. As he listened, felt, the "sound", he realised it was the sound of a heart beating, but it wasn't _his _heart because it was coming from outside his body, _and it was getting quicker with each beat as he felt himself slowly moving backwards... tightness, squeezed all around... great pressure... still moving, still great pressure... it's hurting my head, and then, a scream of pain, but not from him, it was a woman's cry, and then he could see blurry images... _

... and then he was back amongst the small star-lights, each one shining just a little bit brighter as he looked at it, and so he reached for one of them, seeing it bloom in front of him as it got nearer, not understanding why he couldn't see his hand even though he could feel himself holding on to that bright little thing, then it exploded in his face...

_...and he was in Farmer's Maynard's field with some children from school, running after the leather football before Jacob Nesbitt, the other side's goalie, could get to it. Making a wild stab with his foot, he managed to nudge the ball, tapping it sideways towards Georgie Norris who was running next to him and hoofed it towards the goal – a coat resting on each of two sticks stuck into the ground to mark the posts - as Jacob had left it wide open when he came out to challenge Thomas, but the ball went wide of the right-hand coat-post! _

_"Bollocks!" he heard Georgie shout as the ball bounced down the field behind the goal area. Georgie then turned to his team-mates, his face red with how poked up he was at missing an open goal, and yelled at his jeering friends, including Thomas who was laughing at him, "Sorry, lads! Maybe next time, eh?"_

The scene faded away and Thomas found himself back in the starlit void, so he reached for another of the lights, and it, too, bloomed before exploding in his face and blinding him again...

_... and he was standing on a railway bridge with two his mates as the loud steam engine passed underneath, billowing hot, black clouds of smoke all around them as it passed under and making them cough and splutter as their lungs filled up with the hot, foul stuff. _

_"What... 'cough'... d'ya reckon,...'cough'... Tommy?" gasped Joe, his forehead a mass of black and flesh-coloured lines made by his fingers as he tried to wipe the soot off. "Was that... 'cough'... a larf or what?", _and this scene, too, faded away to nothing before another star, another explosion of blinding white light and...

_... he was walking beside a slow-running stream and prodding his wooden toy boat with a short length of branch as it floated past him. On hot summer days, he'd sometimes sit by this river and bathe his feet in its coolness after an hour or two of playing hide-and-seek in the nearby woods... _

... a star, bright light, and...

_... he was standing at the front of the classroom, him and Jacob, both of them having their knuckles rapped by Mr Spalding's cane for talking in class. 'Whoosh', the cane came down and struck the back of his out-stretched hand and making him cry out in pain, tears flowing out from his eyes as he bit on his tongue so as not to curse in front of his teacher, knowing also that the other lads wouldn't make fun of him later because they'd all felt the wrath of Spalding's cane at least once during the school year... _

_... his first week in his new job, being shown how to operate the controls of the Billington E1 0-6-0T steam engine he would be driving for the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway. The engine's controls and levers looked really complicated to his inexperienced eyes, and he wondered how he'd ever remember what the older driver was telling him about boiler steam pressure and when to allow more water in by turning this valve after checking that gauge but not when... _

_... he was holding his firstborn son in his arms, smiling with joy at his wife as she lay in their bed, her face still red and sweat-ridden after the difficult birth as she smiled back up at him, waiting for him to voice his approval of the new arrival, but as he opened his mouth to speak, he found himself... _

_... wiping at his eyes as the small coffin bearing his firstborn son was lowered into the ground. Little Albert had caught pneumonia, and the poor baby had died barely five months after being born... _

_... a second baby, this time, a daughter named Annabelle-Mary... _

_... a son named David to replace Albert... _

_... and another son, Matthew... _

_... chasing his children across the snowy field and trying to stay upright as he carried an armful of snowballs, but he slipped and fell over as he tried to throw one at Matthew. His children hearing his cry for help as he struggled to get back on his feet, and laughing as they took the opportunity to throw snowballs at HIM... _

_... struggling to pull his arm free of whatever his coat was snagged on, his heart racing as the engine veered away from the track and towards the uneven down-slope of the embankment, knowing that if he can't jump out of the cab in time, he was going over with it. His arm coming free and he can move again... preparing to leap out of the cab... the engine suddenly hitting an outcrop of rock and rising up, tipping over and bouncing him around inside the cab... being slammed hard into the back of the cab and being severely winded... falling out of the cab as the engine started to roll over, hitting the ground so hard he was knocked unconscious...and so not feeling the pain caused by his engine falling on top of him and killing him._

_Thomas opened his eyes and found himself looking at__ the coal bunker of the engine in front of him as they waited for their instructions. Oh, he thought, it's another E2 just like me! I wonder where I'm going to be working? I hope I'll be really useful, though, wherever it is. Oh, a Master is coming over to me. _

_"And what's your name, engine number one?"_

_~My name's Thomas, sir. Have you got any work for me to do?~_

_"Yes, Thomas, lucky for you, though not so lucky for the engine in front of you, as he'll probably spend the rest of his days shunting at London Docks. You are going to help build a new railway on the Island of Sodor, Thomas. You'll be staying at a place called Tidmouth and working for a Gentleman by the name of Topham Hatt. He is helping to build a new station up there, and if you work hard and do as you're told, your new owner will be pleased with you. Work poorly and you'll be punished. Do you understand, Thomas?"_

_~Yes, Sir, I understand. I'm really looking forward to meeting my new owner, Sir. When do I leave?~_

_"Soon, Thomas, soon, so don't be impatient. Now, Mister Hatt is a very important man, you understand, in fact, he's one of the men you have to thank for being alive. Not all of the E-Twos have been performing very well, you see, and are set for a life of shunting duties. Make sure you obey Mr Hatt at all times and maybe you'll fare better than they will. You never know, Thomas, he may reward you with a branch line all of your own if he's pleased with your work!"_

_~I'll work hard, Sir, I really will!~ said Thomas excitedly. ~Oh, Sir? Before you go, Sir, can I ask you... how am I still alive, Sir?~_

_Thomas saw the Master stare angrily at him, and frowning as though he'd just said something really awful. He feared that he'd upset the man so much that he started worrying he'd be sent to the scrap yard rather than Sodor, but then the Master opened his mouth to speak and Thomas thought he was going to have his question answered after all, but, instead, the Master spoke merely a single Word of Power and he felt himself falling into the darkness again..._

ooo

All around the island, engines, coaches and trucks of all sorts heard their controllers tell them to get ready, and as the remaining minutes counted down to midnight, they readied themselves for the unknown as best they could. For most, it was doing just what they're told, but some of the others had a different viewpoint and felt they were going to miss this great adventure they were having when they were engines again. They'd made some new friends of the mechanics and driving staff they didn't normally get to see during their usual working days, still, even when they were trains again, they'd be able to continue those friendships whenever they saw their new friends at a station or marshalling yard or the docks.

Salty was going to miss the children of his "adopted" family, though, for they'd really enjoyed the fantastic tales and stories he'd been entertaining them with after they'd had their tea and done all their homework for school the next day.

ooo

Toby and Henrietta, however, were looking forward to being trains again as all the walking about they'd been doing since The Event was beginning to take a toll on their legs, and they both agreed that real people had such busy lives it was as though they never stopped moving at all. At least, Toby and Henrietta agreed, as a tramcar and carriage again, they'd get to have rest stops at the various stations they called at!

As their driver checked his watch and nodded at him, Toby smiled in reply before going over to where his dear friend Henrietta was standing some yards behind him on the track. After giving her a long hug and a peck on the cheek, he said, _"It's been a nice change, but I'll be glad when tomorrow comes and we can just roll along the open track instead of having to open doors before we can go anywhere!"_

Henrietta looked at her old friend and said nervously, _"I'm scared, Toby, and I've never felt like this before. What's going to happen to us, do you know?"_

_"No, I don't, my dear,"_ replied Toby, still holding on to his dear friend, _"but whatever happens, we'll be together when it does!"_ He kissed her again, this time, briefly on the lips before releasing his hold on her and walking back to his designated position to wait those final minutes.

ooo

Annie and Clarabel were standing where it had all started for them, just below the platform at Knapford Station. It was a cold night and they were both shivering.

_"I-I-I'll be g-glad when I'm a c-c-carriage ag-g-gain, Clarabel,"_ said Annie, her teeth chattering.

_"And I, t-t-too, Annie,"_ her sister replied. _"D-do you know where T-t-thomas is? I wish he was here with us!"_

_"We'll s-s-see him in the m-m-morning, I hope, C-c-c-clarabel. I also hope he won't b-b-be late and we have happy p-p-passengers again!"_

_"I wish we c-c-could have stayed as p-people for a b-b-bit longer, though."_

_"Why's that, C-c-clarabel?"_

_"I was g-g-given a knitting p-p-pattern for the most lovely c-c-cardigan!"_

_"All right then, ladies,"_ said Marcus Bale, the mechanic assigned to watch over the two ladies and a couple of former box wagons that were standing on the track alongside them. _"Just a few more minutes and then you'll not feel the cold any more. How about that, eh?"_

Annie frowned at the rude man. That was certainly not a polite way to talk to old ladies!

ooo

Dodge and Splatter stood side by side in the diesel shed and wondered where their boss was. The last they'd seen of him was just before he left in Harold the Helicopter to _fly_ to North Wales, and they hadn't seen him since! The rumour going round the marshalling yards was that he was either crushed under a falling mountain or he'd been kidnapped by another Railway, and they were going to hold him for ransom until Sir Topham paid for him to be freed!

Daisy the railcar was also in the shed, standing in front of Dodge. She'd been very quiet the last couple of days. The two former shunting diesels had heard that she'd been out for a drink with some of the railway staff and two of her lady friends and gotten into some sort of bother again, but no-one was saying anything about what had happened, especially not the green clothed woman standing in front of them!

The three of them, lost in their individual thoughts, waited for when the magical engine would turn them all back into real diesels engines again and get back to doing what they did best.

ooo

Victor had been spending the last few days talking with the former blue engine, Gordon, and a lot of what they'd talked about had unsettled him, well, both of them, in fact.

It seemed that Gordon, since waking up as a human, had been having dreams that he was the House Steward for a Lord in Scotland, and when the two of them had taken a walk into the town of Crovan's Gate and to the library there, they had, with the help of the librarian as neither of them had any idea at all of how to use a computer, found the actual castle where the Lord had lived before dying many, many years ago. There were no lists kept of household staff, unfortunately, and after thanking the librarian for her help, the two former engines made their way back to the repair sheds to discuss their incredible discovery.

Gordon vowed that once he was an engine again and at Knapford, he would ask Sir Topham about it. The railway owner was bound to have an answer, he thought. He also wondered if maybe he was a special engine that could tell things about the past or future like some real humans were said to do, and was a result of his change from an engine into a human. A talent like that, he knew, would be very useful for when those smelly diesels were planning on causing trouble for the steamies!

Victor had also been having dreams, dreams of living on a faraway island where people grew crops for sending to other countries, but because he used to work on sugar plantations in Cuba when he was an engine before coming to Sodor, neither of them thought it unusual, except for the fact that in Victor's dreams, he was living inside one of the big white houses instead of the loco shed!

ooo

Millie looked at the tearful Sir Robert Norramby standing next to Stephen outside her engine shed, her eyes also watering as they waited for the stroke of midnight.

_"G-goodbye, Millie,"_ he said to her, his voice strong yet sorrowful.

_"Look at it not as 'Goodbye', Monsieur Norramby, but just 'au revoir'. I will still be here tomorrow."_

Stephen looked on with sadness as his owner bade farewell to the 'person' that had brought so much happiness to him this past week. He had also found the French 'woman' to be quite charming and delightful, and though he knew the real reason for the tears, it was not his story to tell.

ooo

Daisy heard the two idiots behind her talking their usual nonsense as she waited for midnight to arrive and put an end to the absolutely worst week of her existence. First, she'd been made ill by drinking too much of that horrible stuff the human, Roger, had given to her, Mavis and Emily, then he'd attacked her trying to mess about with her swerves, her shining knight in armour who had come and rescued her was now lost somewhere far away, and last but by no means least, she'd gotten not only herself, but her friends and some railway staff workers thrown out of a pub!

The young man in the pub, Max, had been really kind to help her when she'd shown him what she wanted him to do, and she could tell by his face that he was a little shy at being so close to her, but any hopes of continuing what they'd started had come to a sudden end when the landlord had told them all to leave for upsetting his customers!

As she waited those last few minutes before she could put her recent ill fortune behind her, a thought in the back of her mind suggested to her that such bad luck with the men she met was maybe the story of her life. The mechanic looking at his watch again, holding up his hand to show there were five minutes left before twelve o'clock, and Daisy struggled to hold back her tears from ruining her recently-applied make up. Earlier that day, Mavis had borrowed some from Sir Topham's secretary so she'd look good when she returned to her engine form, but the thought of forever remaining a lonely, single rail car was enough for it to spill over and run her down her cheek and spoil the rosy blusher she'd put on, and worst of all, she had no time now to fix it. Yes, Daisy thought, she really hated this last week!

ooo

As Whiff and Scruff waited at the Waste Dump to be changed into engines, they talked of their plans for the Dump after learning so many things at the reclamation site ran by the local council. From the camp they were staying at, they'd seen the council bin lorries going past loaded with various coloured rubbish bags, and sneaked out one morning to investigate.

What they'd found down the end of the lane was the most amazing sight of all! There was a long line of large container bins marked with signs for the different items of rubbish the council workers were taking out of the bags, and what's more, people were driving there in their cars and vans and taking even more rubbish to the site as well. It was even bigger than _their_ dump!

They planned to have a chat with the Waste Dump's manager once they were back in their engine forms, and listed all the different things they would do as they waited for midnight to arrive.

ooo

The station at Arlesdale had been locked securely for the past week after the station master there had tied a very big sign to them to stop anyone wandering in. The sign said "Do NOT Enter - Construction Work in Progress", and hopefully, come tomorrow morning, they could be taken down and the gates opened again, if all went well tonight, that is.

It was approaching midnight, and Fergus Duncan, the Controller of Arlesdale Miniature Railway and several of his managers and assistant managers were standing on the two railway lines that ran through the station, just below the not-so-high platform and watching the eight, not-so-tall former engines as they waited nervously for something to happen.

Fergus was quite tall, though, an exact six-foot, in fact, which is quite ironic for someone often referred to as "The Short Controller", "Short", of course, referring to the fact that he runs the "Short Railway". He had black-hair and a bushy, black moustache and was dressed in his habitual brown tweed jacket over his yellow waistcoat and brown tie, and tan checked trousers with black shoes. He was also nick-named "Fast-As-You-Can Fergus" by some of his staff due to his regularly shouted "Come on, get a move on!" whenever he saw his employees dawdling with their work.

Also on the tracks with the former engines were a large team of mechanics and engine drivers all trying to calm the nervous little people's anxieties, and as Fergus checked his watch for the umpteenth time in the last twenty, no, make that nineteen and a half minutes, and making sure that all eight of the former engines were still in the taped-off spaces allocated to them, a nervous-sounding female voice behind him asked, _"Sir?"_

He glanced back, realising he had to then look down as the young woman that had addressed him only just about reached his shoulders in height. A second's pause before replying to gather his thoughts and he recognised the Company's most recent appointee to the role of Assistant Manager - Ticket Office, offering a plastic cup of tea to him. She looked, he thought, quite nervous as she waited for him to acknowledge her, and after he raised an eyebrow to signify his readiness to listen to her, she said...

_"Would you, er, like something hot to drink, sir? It's quite cold out here tonight and I thought-"_

_"Oh, yes, thank you very much, er...?"_ he replied, cutting her off and waving a pointed finger in a circle to prompt her to supply what he couldn't remember right then as his mind was on so many different things.

_"Amber, Mr Duncan, sir, and, er, thank you for letting me be here tonight. It was a surprise when we heard they were all being taken from the hall and brought here for this... whatever it is that's going to happen to them."_

The young woman had an oval-shaped face and was wearing a white and black woollen cap from which dark hair poked out and hid her anxiously-raised eyebrows as she looked up at him. He couldn't make out the colour of her eyes in the dim light, though, but thought they were maybe blue. _No wonder she's nervous, _he thought, _she's probably heard of the way I don't stand for idleness and is expecting me to say so to her_.

To ease the young woman's obvious discomfort, he felt that applying a degree of informality would be more beneficial, and as he accepted the steaming hot drink from her, he said, _"I appreciate the thought, Amber, and yes, a ritual, so Sir Topham informed me. Very mystical and magical, yes? They've certainly..."_ he nodded towards where the former engines were standing, _"made an impression on all of us, haven't they?"_

A couple of days ago, he'd been told by Wynford Watts, the manager of the ticket office at Arlesdale, that Noreen Ferris, the old woman who usually worked there and was getting on a bit, had been off work for the last few weeks. She'd phoned him one morning to say "Me rheumatics are playing up again and I'll be in when I feel better." And hadn't been seen since, so he'd "borrowed" one of the girls working in the scheduling office to take over as a temporary replacement. She'd settled in quite well, Watts had told him, proving to be quite popular with the regular ticket-buyers that travelled back and fore between there and Arlesburgh.

Should it be decided that old Noreen be "retired off" after she'd received her statutory six-month's sickness benefit, Watts was considering asking her if she wanted to have that position full-time and had asked him what were his thoughts on the matter.

Since being made Controller of one of Sodor Railways' few profitable subsidiary companies, Fergus was keen to show Sir Topham and the other board members that he was "on-the-ball" and keeping an eye on the miniature railway's financial status, especially in these times of cost-cutting and poor economic growth, and one less employee's wages was one less cost to take into account – a minor thing, financially speaking, but it was, nevertheless, one less cost to bear. Liking the idea, he'd agreed to the appointment, called her to his office and, of course, gave her "The Lecture". Then, a week later, The Event had occurred.

When the drivers and fitters had turned up for work that morning, they'd found the most unusual scenes inside the engine sheds. Normally, they were locked up at night when the engines weren't working, and, as usual, this was the case, but the irritated, angry and confused shouts coming from inside the sheds had caused a fair degree of alarm amongst the railway staff that morning, as they feared some hooligans had gotten into the sheds and messed around with the engines, possibly vandalising them as well.

When they'd opened up the sheds, though, they'd thought that someone had locked up several children inside as a prank, but it wasn't until after Fergus had been in contact with Sir Topham that they were made aware of what had also occurred elsewhere on the island. Once _that_ was accepted, the next question was what to do with next with their surprise "guests". Obviously, they couldn't stay in the sheds, and not knowing for how long they would be in this "reduced" state, it was decided to find somewhere to accommodate them, and after that, to feed and take care of what other needs "people" of their particular disposition had.

Sir Topham had begrudgingly allowed him to hire the local village hall for the duration of the "engines'" current state, ie, "unable to function adequately!", and to keep them all under one roof. Also, to keep costs down, Fergus then asked his staff for donations of blankets and whatever other bedding materials they could spare, and also for anything else they could think of to keep their "guests" occupied.

Apparently, it turned out that an american engine driver and one of Sir Topham's former engines were the only ones who had any knowledge of what had happened, and Fergus had been surprised again that day when the particular former engine that arrived at the hall was none other than the blue tank engine, Thomas, of whom many a tale had been told of his adventures and escapades!

Thomas had been helpful up to a point, but there were still lots of questions that needed answering, though everyone was equally aware that there were no actual answers to be had right now, and so everything would have to be played by ear with decisions being made on the spot with whatever facts were at hand. It would be a trying time for everyone at the miniature railway, Fergus Duncan knew, but if everyone pitched in together and did their best, then maybe they'd get through this crisis without too many problems.

There'd been difficulties in getting the midgets, or rather, "short people" settled in, especially as one of them was female, but she had insisted quite vehemently that she was going to stay in the hall with her friends. Fergus, in his late fifties and of "the old style", had immediately thought of them in that manner as that was the way he'd been brought up, and the whole concept of "being aware of people's disabilities" and "social awareness" was one of those new-fangled ideas introduced to the public by liberalist university graduates with what they considered to be "a fresh and new way of thinking". However, as the week had gone by and he'd seen how his staff interacted with the former engines, he'd come to learn something quite different, and was now finding a lot of those "new-fangled" ideas entering his mind before he could say anything contrary.

A couple of the engines – when they _were_ engines – did have attitude problems when dealing with people, and bickering with the other engines at times, but since those first few days as "people", any belligerence from before had been replaced with timidness and fear, sometimes anger at what had befallen upon them. He'd felt quite sad at times when reading reports on their status, picturing them as small, innocent children rather than mature adults but short in height.

Of course, as he didn't want any equal rights complaints being made against him or the Company, he'd instructed his staff on how to refer to them with consideration, especially in this "age-of-enlightenment" with all its "becoming-more-socially-aware-of-people's-differences" palaver! When it came down to which members of staff were more adept at interacting with the new "arrivals", one of them happened to be the young woman talking with him here tonight.

He couldn't work out what had upset them, as when they were engines, they were no real problems with them, other than the times when one or another would get up to some sort of mischief. Now, however, most of them were quite skittish whenever one of the senior managers entered the hall and approached them. It gave him the impression they'd been mistreated in some way in the past, but how could that be, he puzzled, if they were nothing more than railway engines? Then again, he thought, maybe it was a former owner that had been rough with them, and he vowed that he wasn't going to be thought of in that way by them.

Knowing that Thomas would certainly report what he'd seen to Sir Topham, Fergus had switched from his usual and quite brisk "Let's-not-waste-any-time-here!" manner to someone much more approachable, and it was this more genial attitude that had persuaded him to invite the young woman to be here tonight. She would no doubt, he thought, find saying goodbye to the new "friends" she, as well as some of the other staff and employees had made over the week, to be quite an emotional matter,

ooo

Amber had been taken on by the Arlesdale Railway Company to work in the traffic-scheduling office, and due to working inside all day, hadn't really met any of the engines to talk to, even after being transferred to the ticket office where she'd only seen them go by outside through the large office window. The railway magic, of course, had already conditioned her to accept the fact that the engines were "alive", so to speak, but it hadn't prepared her for when she entered the village hall in Arlesdale one evening and saw what the railway's magic had done to the engines after Lady had lost _hers_. It was, for the young woman, a bit of an eye-opener!

She'd spent that first morning when they'd been told what had happened to the island's engines and rolling stock explaining to intending passengers that all services were, unfortunately, cancelled. Sir Topham had directed that they all use one, single excuse – an island-wide breakdown in the electronic signalling equipment, and that health and safety regulations being very constrictive after several high-profile train crashes on the mainland, meant that _all_ services had to be cancelled until further notice while they tried to sort out what was wrong with the signals.

Later that morning, two people had come into the office looking for Wynford Watts, and she'd directed them to the village hall where he and one of the fitters had taken the former engines in the company's small minibus. One of the men looked to be foreign as he had a rather unusual colour to his skin, and the way he acted was as though he was unfamiliar with simple everyday things. She'd thought he was possibly from a less-developed country abroad somewhere, and was here to see how a railway was ran in a first-world country, but it wasn't until Wynford returned later that she found out the "foreigner's" actual identity – Thomas, the "former" blue tank engine of Sir Topham's!

The Controller, Mr Duncan, had asked everyone if they could donate bedding materials for the former engines, and after work that day, she'd gone to the hall with some pillows, a quilt she no longer used, and some colouring books and crayons for the hall's guests to amuse themselves with.

When she'd entered the hall and seen the way the little people were reacting to the taller men looming over them and asking all sorts of questions to which they has no answer, she couldn't help but think back to when she'd been interviewed by the tall Mr Duncan when Wynford had put her name forward for her new job.

_Amber entered Mr Duncan's office and was told by him to sit down as he had something to say to her first, and as he started speaking to her, she realised that she was about to hear the famous "Lecture"... _

_"The position you've been proposed for is a very important one, and as you'll be in the "front-line", so to speak, it means that you are the face of the Company to our customers, and how they react from dealing with you is how they perceive the Company to be. Help them, assist them, look to see if they are having problems with what you are telling them. If that's the case, ask yourself if you are doing it right or do you have to change the way you are giving them that information. _

_"You have to anticipate what they want to know, and you have to think for them because, sometimes, they just don't know what they want or what is best for them. Look to make their day the easiest and best they've ever had. Give them your best prices. We offer quite a variety of ticket options to choose from, look at the numbers and work out how you can save them money. Yes, the Company wants their money, but we want them to give it to us, not take it from them! _

_"Be the best that you can be, and go that extra step to ensure that you can say with confidence that you have made their day for them. Naturally, things can go wrong sometimes, we all make mistakes, but you must face occasions like that with a smile on your face and the assurity that you can make things right again, or even better, and learn for the next time. People complain, but no complaint from any of our customers is too small or insignificant. Yes, we are going through a recession right now, and it's affecting the whole Company, but you are working for one of the profit-making divisions, and to ensure that it remains profit-making, we ALL do one thing for the Company, and that is to be really useful and not waste time, for time wasted is like money lost forever, it won't be seen again! _

ooo

_"You'll have to excuse me,"_ said Fergus, _"I'm feeling a bit... emotional tonight, and a bit nervous as well, to be honest. Anyway, Wynford has given me a good report on your work so far. He said you've been getting on well with our regular passengers and that you're on first-name terms with some of them. That's good, but a word of advice... don't get too close to them. Over-familiarity leads to over-confidence, and that's when mistakes happen. Something goes wrong and you're the first one they'll complain to, so please, bear that in mind in future. _

_"He also told me about your 'special relationship' with our guests over there, and the way they seemed to open themselves up to you. I must admit to a certain degree of envy at that, Amber, as I've known those engines since they first came to the Railway, and I think it would be most wonderful to just sit there and chat with them like, well, real people, but alas, they see me as nothing more than a 'big brute' as Mike referred to me when I first met him."_

Fergus then gazed into space for a few moments before turning back to face her, and said, _"This sorry state of affairs may very well be over soon, and they'll be back as they were, engines whose only function is to earn money for the company, not to make friends. How do you feel about that, young woman?"_

ooo

_"I think I'll be quite sad, Mr Duncan, sir,"_ said Amber quietly. _"The Railway Magic will be restored and everything will be back to normal again, but I like to think that they've left something behind for us to remember them by."_

Fergus looked as though he was considering something for a few seconds, and nodded his head before saying, _"Hmm, yes, I agree. I can only imagine what Sir Topham must be going through right now with his own engines, and, you know, it's all thanks to his engine Thomas and a woman he's got working for him... some,"_ more finger-circling, _"... June Watkins or other, that all this is possible here tonight. They saved the magical engine from an illness that affected her magic, I believe, and brought her all the way back to Sodor. Quite an impressive achievement, yes?"_

Amber recalled a couple of days ago when she'd taken her three "charges" shopping to Knapford, and when they'd almost tripped over a woman in one of the shops. She'd sensed the familiarity of the railway magic in her, but it felt a bit "off" for some reason, and when she'd tentatively introduced herself as an employee of the miniature railway, the woman introduced herself back, confirming that connection when she said that she worked for Sir Topham but was taking a couple of days leave after coming back from fetching a "special part" he needed to get the engines running again.

With what Mr Duncan had just said, Amber realised just who in fact that older girl was and what she and Thomas had actually done, but, feeling annoyed by her boss' chauvinistic attitude, she saw where she could bring him down a peg or two, and, smiling, she said, _"Sir, her name is Jeanie Watkins, not June. We met up the other day in Knapford when I took Rex, Bert and Mike shopping."_ It wasn't actually a lie, per se, but the truth of a situation can often mislead, and after all, what Amber had just said _was_ actually the truth, but the implied message _did_ succeed with its intention...

_"Oh, really,"_ said Fergus, mildly put out that he wasn't aware the women knew each other, and he suddenly felt quite envious of the young woman standing by him for having a connection with someone involved in the effort to restore the engines. _"Did she say anything about, er, you know what?"_

_"No, Mr Duncan, nothing specific that I can tell anyone else, that is, only... only that that they'd been to fetch the 'special part' that Sir Topham needed to restore the engines, sir, and I believe since where all here tonight, she also implied that everything would work out fine, at least that's what I think she meant. She wasn't looking all that well, sir, and I think whatever she and Thomas did to get the, er, special part back to Sodor was quite a strain on her."_

_"Oh,"_ said Fergus, disappointed at the lack of detail and annoyed that a mere employee apparently knew more about tonight's plan than he did. Quite miffed, he said to the young woman, _"Well, be that as it may, Amy-, sorry, Amber, while I remember and regardless of whatever happens here tonight, I'd like for you to report to my office at ten o'clock tomorrow morning. I want to hear your explanation for some of the things you and your friends have been up to the last couple of days. I've been receiving phone calls from worried mothers as well as the local park-keeper complaining about damaged playground equipment, and I-, GOOD LORD! What are they doing THAT for?"_

After his sudden outburst, Amber saw Fergus Duncan turn and stare at the former engines, and, looking herself to see what had caused him to cry out, saw them all laying themselves face down on the sleepers.

Any thoughts of the Controller's implied rebuke and the likelihood of some sort of reprimand fled her mind as the former engines then stretched out their arms and legs until, for whatever reason, they were all touching both rails of the 15"-gauge tracks. She couldn't help but think that it was lucky they were narrow-gauge engines, for if they were laying on a standard-gauge track, their arms and legs would be too short to reach the rails! She only just managed to stifle a giggle, disguising it with a cough behind her hand as, at the same time, a bright flash of light travelled along the rails leading into the station and right up to where the former engines were laying, then all the "little people" started to glow...

ooo

_{Just a few minutes before... }_

_... and Thomas felt a different kind of darkness forming around him, and there were no longer any of the little stars there, either, and as he wondered where what was going to happen this time, he heard Lady's voice say... _

_**For what I have to do now, Thomas, I am ever so sorry, and, later, when this is all over, I will cry for what I have done to a dear friend such as you. You see, Thomas, you were all created to serve the Railway, and so I can't allow you or your friends to remember any of this past week or your dreams and memories, and to ensure the safety of the railway magic, I have to take them away from you all. You won't even remember this talk we are having right now, Thomas. It will seem to you and your friends as though the last week never happened at all, but you will always be my dear friend, Thomas, and I must leave you now for it is time to call the other Elementals to me so that your return to an engine can begin. It is with a heavy heart that I leave you right now, Thomas. Be brave, my loyal friend... **_

_... and as the creature drew back from him, part of Thomas' frantic mind wondered what more torture it was going to inflict on him, and found out almost immediately when he felt a hard blow against his side, almost breaking his ribs, and he knew that the creature he'd thought a friend had once more cut into him with his razor-sharp claw. As he felt more white-hot pain tear into him and unable to take any more of this cruel treatment, he at last felt himself losing consciousness as everything around him started to fade away, and he smiled at the thought of never having to feel such pain ever again._

ooOOoo


	32. Chapter 32

Chapter 32

Lady watched as the railway owner stared at her, his face cycling from confusion to despair and back again whilst he waved his arms in the air, showing he was clueless as to the reason for the engines' lack of life.

_**~What's the matter, Sir Topham?~**_

_"It's the... the engines, Lady. They're just... engines! I... I can't sense them at all... They're... they're lifeless!"_

Greatly weakened by the effort she'd just put into the ritual, she replied tiredly, _**~Sir Topham, I've restored them to their former state, and yes, they're lifeless right now, but once you get your men to light up their fireboxes... after a few hours they'll have built up enough steam and their facets will be activated by the high temperature and they'll start to wake up.~**_

_"And that's it?"_ Sir Topham asked her, his face a picture of utter disbelief. _"You mean, THAT'S all we have to do? We just fire them up and they'll be back to their old selves again?"_

_**~Yes, tha-aaAAAHHHH!~**_ Lady yawned loudly cutting off her own words. _**~Excuse me for that, please, Sir Topham, but I'm very tired right now. Yes, that's all you have to do to wake them, after all, that's what we had to do when we created them in the first place.~**_ She fell silent then for a few moments, looking intently at the man.

_**~Sir Topham, what I'm going to say now is very important for the engines. I've taken the liberty to ensure that when they do wake up, to all intent and purpose, they'll be just as they were the night before they changed, so it's vital they NEVER find out what happened to them. They were sleeping when they changed, I believe, well, most of them, that is. As it is now, it'll be several hours before their fires are hot enough to awaken them the state they're in, so I'm going to find a nice quiet siding and go for a much-needed sleep. Goodnight, Sir Topham!~ **_

The sound of Lady releasing her brakes filled the silence and she slowly reversed away from the engine shed. Sir Topham stared at her receding form as it passed into the dim shadows of the marshalling yards before shaking his head to gather his wits together. A conversation starting up between Mr Jones and the mechanic, currently gazing in admiration at the little green engine, caught his attention and he glanced over at them, leaving them chat together as he started to think about what manpower he had available. One thing he knew without a doubt, though, was that his staff would be earning their overtime pay that night! He also knew that the magical engine had certainly earned the sleep she so desperately craved, and smiling as an immense feeling of relief swelled up inside him, he walked over to where Burnett Stone was currently squatting on the floor beside Ivor, and offered the engineer a hand to help him up to his feet. Using light from his small pocket torch, he then guided him away from the shed as he started to speak.

_"Burnett, what Lady just said is going to cause a few problems for us, to say the least. There's the freight engines that were running that night that'll have to be, well, given a damn good reason why they suddenly found themselves back in their sheds. The time it took to clear all up all that mess off the tracks, and how the hell were we going to reload the stuff that wasn't damaged. It's going to take some clever talking to explain all the shortages never mind satisfy the engines, and while I remember it, there's Toby as well we've got to think about. He crashed with you on him. How the hell do we get round that?"_

_"You're right, Sir Topham,"_ Burnett replied, frowning as he took in the enormity of it all. _"I don't know why she would want to have done something like THAT to them. I mean, what harm could it have done for them to remember being people for a week?"_

_"I'm not sure,"_ said Sir Topham, shaking his head slowly. _"She must have had a good reason, though, whatever it was. This whole week of being something other than a railway engine, or wagon, even, it must have had a profound impact on them, I would think. Would you agree, Burnett?"_

_"Oh, yeah, I agree, but I think it would have been great to talk to them about it now they're back in engine form, yeah?"_

_"Yes, it would have been,"_ agreed Sir Topham, nodding, _"but if when they wake up they actually can't remember anything about it, it's something we'll never get to do. I feel... rather sad about that, Burnett. I was so caught up with finding somewhere for them to stay and dealing with everything I just never had the time to just sit down and talk. The time I spent with some of them in the café, that was mostly pent explaining what was going to happen, nothing... you know, perspective-wise."_

_"Yeah, and I was stuck in the hospital. Tell you what, Sir Topham, when we get back to Muffle Mountain, I'll ask her why she did it and, as long as she tells me. I'll let you know. Until then, we'll just have to live with it, I suppose."_

_"I'd appreciate that, Burnett, thank you, but there's still this problem with the memory thing to deal with. Some of them are bound to think there's something wrong, though. There's the passengers as well. The coaches might hear some of them complaining about the lack of trains recently and ask the engines about it. The more I think about it, Burnett, the more I think it's going to be a nightmare to get through."_

_"I suggest, Sir Topham, that you inform the railway staff to keep silent about their change. That'll help a fair bit, but there's nothing I can think of to deal with complaining passengers."_

_"Yes, Burnett, telling the staff is a priority, and all we can do as far as the passengers are concerned is to play it by ear. I'll tell Toby that he and Henrietta were knocked out when they derailed and were repaired overnight. The ones that were running, well, let's just say that, yes, Lady's magic, what, 'fluctuated', which caused some sort of backlash that made them... yes, they went to sleep and their drivers had to take control over them! By damn, Burnett,"_ chortled Sir Topham, _"this is like secret spy stuff, yes? Covering our track, so to speak!"_

_"Hah!"_ laughed Burnett. _"Yeah, what's one more secret of the magical railway to keep hidden?"_

_"It's one more worry on my shoulders, Burnett, that's what it damn well is! We've been incredibly lucky that everything worked out for us to have the ritual last night!"_

_"What do you mean, Sir Topham?"_

_"Do you know what day it is now, Burnett?"_

_"Oh, you've got me there, Sir Topham. What with the time I spent in hospital and all that's gone on since, I've lost track of the days. What is today?"_

_"It's now Friday morning, Burnett, the same morning they woke up as people!"_

Burnett stared at Sir Topham as he worked out the significance of what he'd just been told, his face lighting up as he realised just what it meant. _"By God, Sir Topham! You're right! That means..."_

_"Yes, Burnett, exactly seven days, which means that we don't have a missing or extra day or more to find an explanation for!"_

_"Well, we can be thankful for that, at least. So, what do we right now?"_

_"Well,"_ said Sir Topham, nodding his head as his plan came together in his mind, _"I'm going over to the fitting shop to phone the other Directors and start the ball rolling. They can delegate instructions down the workforce to fire up the steamies but leave the diesels as they are for now. I want them to fire up as many as they can to make sure they're alright, but I'd be grateful if you could manage things here in Tidmouth when I go back to Knapford after speaking to them."_

_"Yeah, I'll take care of that for you. Who do you want done first?"_ asked Burnett, nodding back to the engine shed.

Sir Topham guided Burnett back towards the engine shed as he spoke. _"Well, those four for a start, once their drivers and firemen get here, of course, but I want you yourself to concentrate on Thomas. I need to know he's all right after that ordeal he was put through."_ He then looked across to the engineer with a grim look on his face.

_"Burnett, I had no idea they were going to do anything like that to him. What I saw on those old film reels somewhat prepared me for what I could expect to see, but... damn it, man, the intensity of actually being there whilst all that was going on. It was blood-curdling!"_

_"I agree with you,"_ said Burnett, looking rather shaken as he recalled seeing the dragon slicing open Thomas' chest with such speed and precision. He shuddered as he thought just what that creature was capable of doing in the midst of a crowd of people. To ease his own mind, he thought of something much less traumatic. _"I have to confess, Sir Topham, I was lucky to be distracted from it by Lady herself. You know already how much I care for her. It's a... strong bond we have together, you can say, but what I saw of her and the dragon, well, dragon-spirit, I should say, it, well, it certainly took my breath away!"_

_"Yes, I saw that as well, Burnett. It was... intense in its own sense, wasn't it?"_

_"Oh, yeah,"_ chuckled the engineer. _"You can say THAT again!"_

_"Mr Jones!"_ Sir Topham called out as they neared the shed. _"Please excuse me for intruding on your conversation, but would you and Ivor be willing to take me back to Knapford once I've made a few phone calls, please?"_

_"Yes, we can do that, we can, Sir Topham,"_ Jones replied, nodding his head.

_"prrp!"_

_"Ivor says he'll be pleased to help out if you need him to do anything, Sir Topham,"_ the Welshman then said, smiling back at the little engine for his kindness.

_"Thank you, both,"_ said Sir Topham. _"I shan't be too long,"_ and he left the engine shed to make his way over to the fitting shop to give the good news.

The diesels shouldn't be a problem, he thought as he carefully stepped over the tracks, the light from his torch more helpful than the isolated cones of light from the arc-lamps. He'd tell his diesel-staff to assist with the steam engines where they were able to until they showed signs of waking up, and then they could take care of their own engines. Hopefully, they'd only need their starter motors to be turned over for them get them going again. He didn't want his men's time to be taken away from his main concern, which was, of course, the steamies.

ooo

As Sir Topham made his way back to the engine shed for his lift with Ivor, he idly shone his torch around about him, figuring out what he'd have the various engines doing when, no, _if_ they were declared as being fit for work, when he saw what looked like a tipped-over wagon. _That's odd!_ _How did THAT get there?_

As he got nearer to the wagon and saw the state of it, it looked to him as though it had been de-railed at high speed, which was a puzzle in itself, and as he the last few feet, he saw one of its axles had snapped clean in half. Walking round what he correctly assumed to be one of the troublesome coal trucks, he shone his torch onto its front end, wondering if it showed any signs of awareness as he certainly couldn't hear it moaning or anything, but the truck's eyes were closed tight with its face frozen in what could be said to be a permanent frown or scowl, and not only that, but he saw that the steel floor plates of the truck had been forced loose, creating a gap between the truck's head-end and the chassis underneath.

Carefully stepping back, something odd caught his eye within the circle of torchlight as it flickered about over the ballast stones. It was as though his eye had refused to acknowledge the presence of something and, as he looked again, his breath caught in his throat as he recognised what had caused the odd occurrence. It was the truck's single facet, obviously knocked out from its housing underneath its face by the force of whatever had caused it to hit the ground so hard. He aimed his torch back at the truck's face and... yes, he recognised it as belonging to the Unhappy Truck, the... former truck, boy, that had been hanging around with Henry the last few days.

Shining his torch back to the facet on the ground, he picked it up and closely studied it, his torchlight refusing to shine back from it. He recalled many years ago when an engine, Burton, had crashed beyond repair, also only a week ago, Molly and Neville. Their facets, too, had been like this. He sighed heavily. He recalled hearing Henry and the boy talking together on the platform at Knapford, and from what he'd gathered at the time, the boy had somehow become separated from his mother back before... before he'd become a coal truck. A lump came to Sir Topham's throat and he gulped it back before bowing his head to say, solemnly, _"I hope you're with your mother now, my boy, wherever she is. I hope also that if you, it's finally put a smile on your face. Goodbye, lad."_

ooo

_"Well,"_ said Fergus to the men gathered around him, _"we can't stand around here all night waiting for something else to happen. The light-show has finished and no doubt Sir Topham will want things moving again, so, check them over and START FIRING THEM UP!"_ he called out, pointing to the mixed group of engines, _"... AND AS FAST AS YOU CAN, NOW!"_

It struck him as he was saying it as how his more-relaxed manner during the last few days had made him more approachable to his employees, recalling the noticeable eagerness they'd then shown as they carried out their appointed tasks, even openly giving him feedback and suggesting possible options, something they'd never done before. He nodded, yes, maybe this was the right time for _him_ to change as _well_ as the engines, and, chuckling humorously, he called out in a more gentle tone, _"People! Let's not waste any time, here!"_

He heard the young woman next to him giggling quietly. _No doubt it was at my 'trademark' comment_, and he found himself smiling good-humouredly as he walked over to the station's café to get a fresh cup of tea. Thinking then of how this last week had certainly affected the way he'd been dealing with things, he pondered over the implications of a less-strict/more-friendlier approach to his employees and its possible benefits on production.

Glancing back at the engines and seeing the lights of the men's torches as they checked around, under and inside them, also hearing some laughter as the men joked amongst themselves as they worked, he thought, _Well, they seem happy enough_ _and not complaining as they usually are. Maybe there's something to this after all!_ Noticing then the young woman watching the men as they worked, he called over, _"Miss..., sorry, Amber, would you care for a fresh tea or a coffee with me? It's up to you what you do, mind, as it'll be a while before the engines are up and running again."_

_"I don't mind staying until then, Mr Duncan, sir, if that's all right? I've got rather fond of some of them over the last week and I'd like to speak with them again when they wake to see what it's like talking to them as engines."_

_"Of course you can, Amber,"_ said Fergus, nodding. _"Maybe everything you've been up to with Mike and his brothers has had an affect on THEM as well, especially that Mike. Maybe he'll become less of a grouch, who knows? So, is it a tea or coffee you'd like?"_ he asked, one arm gesturing towards the platform café.

_"Tea, if you don't mind, Mr Duncan, sir. One sugar."_

_"Tell you what, Amber,"_ said Fergus, force of habit making him think of the more efficient option, and also not wishing to sound impolite by telling her to sort her own sugar out, _"come in the café where it's warm,"_ he suggested, _"and you can humour me with some tales of what you lot got up to, and if you make me laugh, you can forget about coming to my office tomorrow morning. How's that for a deal?"_

_"That sounds fair, Mr Duncan, sir,"_ said Amber, and she followed her employer into the café, looking forward to not having to stand around in the cold and wait for the engines for however long it'll take. She sensed a "lightness" in his voice that made him seem more "human" than the cold businessman everyone knew him to be, and if she was right, she reckoned she could certainly make him smile at some of the things she and the engines had done during the week, and besides, if it got her out of a reprimand, all the better! _"Yeah, I'll have a go!"_

_"There is ONE thing I have to say to you first, though, Amber,"_ said Fergus as she drew alongside him.

_Oh, Gawd_, she thought. _Here it comes_... wondering what she'd possibly said or done now to offend him.

_"Don't bother with the 'sir' from now on... just 'Mr Duncan' will do!"_

ooo

As the hours ticked-on, an excited "buzz" seemed to spread around the island. It had started at the Skarloey Railway when two of the drivers had made a small bet with each other as to which of the narrow-gauge engines would wake up first, and it spread from there. Mr Percival, overhearing the drivers talking and thought of an excellent way to have a bit of good-natured fun as compensation for everyone having to work through the night.

He phoned Sir Topham, who was glad for the distraction from his sad discovery earlier on, and got permission to proceed with his idea. He spent the next few minutes thinking up some simple rules and preparing the spreadsheets he needed to make it happen, then phoned all the various stations and Works where a steam engine was being fired up and explained to the managers there what was going to happen.

As in everyday life when people have a favourite person, so too did the railway staff when it came to the engines. Of course, a particular engine's driver would naturally favour the one he drove, but this was an opportunity for _all_ the staff to join in the fun as, after all, it wasn't just the driving staff and mechanics that were working that night, but a lot of the Sodor Railways office staff had been asked to work overtime as well when it came to marshalling the widely spread out rolling stock.

It was simple idea, really. For the small price of one pound, a staff member could pick the name of the steam engine he or she thought was going to be the first one to speak after waking up, winner taking all unless more than one staff member had picked that same engine, in which case the "prize" would be shared.

The directors of Sodor Railways, being Mr Percival himself, Lawrence Harrington and Sam Browning, as well as Sir Topham all had a stake in the outcome, Sir Topham having been offered first dibs from the long list of engines' names. Burnett, when he heard about what was going on, phoned Sir Topham to say that as he was technically connected to the Railways through Lady, he should also be allowed to have a go, and on hearing the engineer's plea, Sir Topham chuckled and told him to make his selection!

Many of the steamies had already got a good fire burning, and so time was of the essence to get the selections in, and for the next half-hour the phone lines on Sodor were kept so busy that one station master was heard to say that they might start to glow just like the railway lines had done earlier!

The engines' drivers, firemen, guards and mechanics, after a week of doing nothing more strenuous than keeping an eye on the former engines at the various camps and accommodation sites they'd been staying at, suddenly found themselves reporting to impatient supervisors on engine temperatures, boiler steam pressures, water levels and all the other technical data necessary to ensure that the engines hadn't suffered any long-term damage to their systems during their recent "break" from hauling coaches and trucks around the island.

As the technical data was logged and analysed, the name of the engine classed as "favourite" to be the one to speak first was changing quite rapidly as more and more railway staff started to have private bets. The appointed "cut-off" time for selecting an engine came and the total money wagered on the "official" sweepstake was calculated to be the princely sum of eight hundred and thirty-seven pounds.

There'd been some heated arguments, of course, as some staff members contested over the fact that the smaller engines wouldn't need as long as the bigger engines to warm up, but that was countered by the fact that there weren't as many people available to concentrate on the small engines as there were for the big steamies, and so the arguments continued, only stopping when the news finally came through that the first steam engine had spoken and that there was a single winner of the sweepstake!

Shaking heads and good-natured sighs of acceptance were made by the losers, whilst the lucky staff member, a fairly-new employee, Maximillian, or as he preferred to be called, Max, was astonished to hear he'd actually won! He was a youngster not long out of school and on a scholarship in the administration section at Knapford Station, and had volunteered to help out with the former engines that night. When told the good news by his supervisor, he let out a loud "Really? Ooooh!", receiving congratulatory hugs from both Annie and Clarabel. He found it quite surreal being cheered at by what, if asked, he'd have said to be nothing more than inanimate constructions. It had completely turned his life around the day his office manager introduced him to one of the engines, and now, being an employee of a _magical_ railway, he considered himself to be one of the luckiest people in the world.

Not long after Max started work in the busy offices at Knapford, it soon become known by his colleagues that the tall young man was an aspiring musician, and it only took a couple of days for him to earn the nick-name "Max the Music" as a consequence of his rather irritating habit of tapping the top of his desk with his fingers as though playing a piano while whistling theme tunes of various television programmes. This, together with his head sticking up like a sore thumb in the open-plan office, had made him the target of many a crumpled up sheet of photocopy paper being lobbed at him by his fellow office-workers whenever he started to "play" a tune!

Having only been working there for just over a month, and not on the tracks, he barely knew any of the engines' names, and after going through the long list, had chosen one whose name had started with the same letter as his own, so he had chosen Mike, one of the miniature engines up north in the Arlesdale Miniature Railway.

Mike, the engine that had brought a much-welcomed feeling of joy to Sir Topham when told of his waking and subsequent comment, was a small red engine with a 2-8-2 configuration, first arriving on Sodor in 1967, and quickly showed how strong he was for his small size. Before the engines' recent "change", he pulled goods trains on the 15"-gauge track running from Arlesburgh to Arlesdale. The bad thing about Mike was his rather irritable and quite arrogant personality that had his drivers regularly pleading to their supervisors to be transferred to a different engine!

When his facets had released their stored magical energy and roused him from his inert slumber, he'd opened his eyes and, seeing a young woman standing right in front of him, snarled an insult at her!

Naturally, seeing his face suddenly morph out of the engine's smokebox and two relatively large eyes opening widely right in front of her had frightened the young woman so much she'd screamed loudly with alarm. She was taken by concerned colleagues to the station's café where she was given a hot cup of tea and a warm blanket to treat her shock, and was heard mumbling that she'd thought that the engine had been her friend. She'd gone on to explain that she'd spent last week with Mike and his two "brother" engines and, after a few initial problems, had all got on really well together.

Sir Topham, on hearing the news from Fergus Duncan, was overcome with relief that one of the island's engines was now conscious and talking without any apparent side-effects, albeit it's reversion back to grouchiness. When told about the young woman, though, he decided to compensate her for her distress by offering her a first-class gourmet dinner and night's stay at one of Arlesdale's hotels for her and her family.

It was when he rang Mr Percival to tell him of the engine waking up that he learned of the winner of the sweepstake, and was chuffed to hear that it was an employee working in Knapford itself. Smiling with a degree of pride on hearing that bit of news, he told Peregrine that he would write out a company cheque for the winnings and present it to the lucky winner himself. The actual money, he told him, could go into the various locations' petty cash funds so as to balance the books to keep the auditors happy next year.

More reports of engines waking up soon followed, and he wasn't that surprised to see it was mostly the narrow-gauge engines he was crossing off his long list. When taking the calls, he couldn't help but to feel quite pleased with the way things were going, though the loss of the Unhappy Truck was a moderating factor. He updated the excited station masters with the ever-growing list of engines waking up so everyone was aware of how things were developing. It seemed that Lady was quite correct when she'd said that they would be as they were the night before they'd changed as, when questioned, all they could remember was what they'd done exactly seven days ago. Indeed, some of them had even told the staff attending to them that they'd never had such a good sleep, and were feeling ready to do a full day's work.

One of the engines, Arthur, had been on a late-night run when the "event" had occurred, and had not long pulled up to a halt signal three miles outside Ffarquhar with a rack of empty trucks, and had woken up the following morning to find himself laying on the track with several sleeping children behind him. This morning, he'd found himself with his trucks actually on a siding at the station itself. He'd accepted the explanation that Lady had suffered a magical "hiccup" that had sent him and the trucks to sleep, forcing his driver to use his control key to finish the run, only commenting that his driver had better take his time in future when topping up his water tanks or he might get magical "hiccup" himself! Sir Topham took assurance from this that the engines seemed likely to believe what they were told, and hoped the other engines in a similar position would do the same.

Unfortunately for the engines eager to work after waking up, there was still a lot of things that had to be done before they could resume their normal tasks, as the now-restored coaches and trucks would have to be checked over by the fitters and mechanics before they could be classed as safe to use.

As Sir Topham looked down the crossed-off names on his list, he was well aware that he hadn't yet heard anything from Tidmouth, and was fighting the urge to phone the marshalling yards and ask about the four engines he'd left under Burnett's charge. He glanced over at the wall-clock and sighed, knowing from his own past experience that it was still too early for any of them to be fully steaming yet. Having been up all night, he thought of pouring himself a drink from his hospitality cabinet, but realised that, despite all the time he'd been awake, it was still the morning, and certainly not the time for him to start drinking alcohol. He knew he was going to have a long day ahead of him before he'd have a proper sleep again, and, sighing loudly, he got up from his seat to make himself a cup of tea instead in the outer office with Debra's kettle.

ooo

From the answers Rheneas had just given him, it seemed to Peregrine that the engine, just like Rusty and Peter Sam, had no recollection of spending the last week as a human. That made three restored and revived engines that appeared to be back to their old self in every way except for their memories. He'd confirmed the missing memory to Sir Topham when he first reported Rusty waking up, but had only been told to check with the others when they woke up as well. He wondered if Sir Topham knew anything more about this and maybe inform him of it later on, but for now, all he'd been asked to do was to keep an eye on them. He knew there was still a lot about the railway magic that he wasn't aware of, indeed, the same could be said for Sir Topham, as the old film reels they'd watched together had shown. Maybe, he mused, there was a quite good reason why the engines shouldn't remember anything, and if Sir Topham knew what it was, he may be told later once everything was back to normal.

ooo

Percy yawned loudly as he opened his eyes and looked around, hazy images of what seemed to have been a most unusual dream raced too quick for him to recognise into the distant reaches of his mind and too far for him to have any chance of ever seeing them again. Instead, he decided to make fun of the bigger engines for being such sleepy heads, after all, it wasn't raining so it was another fine day and there was work to be done. Then he remembered something, frowning as rage started to bubble inside his boiler. Last night, after returning from a most enjoyable trip taking the Sodor Society for Scenic Snapshots around the island, that bastard Diesel 10 had drenched both him and Thomas with cold, muddy water, ruining the good day he'd had seeing the sights he seldom got to see.

Something was odd, though, there was an unfamiliar small green engine standing outside the shed, and some unknown men talking to his and James' driver. He wondered who they were, thinking that maybe Sir Topham had bought the engine to save it from being scrapped and they were the people who had brought it here. It looked really old and weak, and he couldn't see it lasting long, not with all the hard work that Sir Topham expected them all to do!

_**~Who are you?~**_ he asked the old engine.

_"Prp-prrp!"_ the old engine answer back to him.

_**~Ivor, eh?~**_ he said. _**~Well, I must say you've got a funny way of talking, haven't you. Can't you speak properly? And what do you mean 'Welcome back!'? I haven't been anywhere, well, except for the trip around the island I went on yesterday, and you'd better move from there before Henry wakes up if you know what's good for you. You're standing in his way! Hang on a minute... you've got no face!~**_

_"Now, now, Percy, me ol' green sprout!"_ said Jim Harper, his own driver, climbing down from inside his cab. _"Don't you go being cheeky to ol' Ivor, there, if you know what's good for YOU! It turns out 'e's a really important engine, 'e is, so you'd better mind your manners when you talk to 'im or you'll be in for it if Sir Topham 'ears you!"_

_**~Why's he important, then?~**_ Percy asked him. _**~What's he done that's so special? We had enough of that 'really important engine' crap with Spencer!~**_

_"Never you mind about that for now, Percy, me ol' greenfly!"_ Jim replied, making sure he adhered to what the Yank fella had told him and the other lads. _"Tell me, Perce, 'ow are you feeling this morning? Any aches or pains? 'Ow does your boiler feel, eh? Any rumbles in your pipes or pinging in your pistons?"_

_**~No,~**_ said Percy, puzzled as to why his driver was so concerned about him. Jim wasn't normally _that_ fussed about how he felt in the morning. _**~Why do you ask?~**_

_"Oh... no reason, Percy, me ol' china teapot... just, you know, it's a nice morning an' I'm feeling quite 'appy, I am. Tell me, just out of curiosity, like, but, er... what's the last thing you remember before going to sleep last night, Perce?"_

_**~WHAT?~**_ exclaimed Percy, shocked so much he vented steam into the air around him. _**~Why the fuck are you asking me THAT?~**_

_"Just me being curious, Percy, me ol' coat-hanger, an' mind your tongue, me ol' swearbox. No need for you to be alarmed or anything, you know? It's just that, well, sometimes, we humans, like, well, we tend to forget certain things after a good night's kip, you know, an', well, I just want to check an' see if it's the same with you... er, engines, like."_

_**~Oh,~**_ replied Percy, slightly mollified. _**~Well, if you MUST know, I went to sleep last night really pissed off after that fucker Diesel Ten drenched me and Thomas with some stinking fucking water after I'd had such a lovely day taking **__**the Sodor Society for Scenic Snapshots**__** around the island! THAT'S what I last remember, Jim, me old Mr Wants-to-know-everything-about-me!~**_

_"Er... right, Percy, er, me ol' mate,"_ said Jim, rather taken back by the vehemence of Percy's response. _"Well, you seen fine enough this morning, like, except for the ol' 'P's and 'Q's, so maybe later we can take a run somewhere to blow out the old cobwebs, yeah?"_

_**~There's no fucking cobwebs on ME, I can tell you, and what do you mean we can go out maybe later? Why aren't I doing the early-morning mail run like I usually do?~**_

_"Er... I think it's been cancelled for this morning, Percy, me ol' saucepan lid. I'll go an' check with Sir Topham an' let you know what's 'appening, yeah?"_

_**~Yeah, you do that, mate!~**_

Percy watched his driver walk across to where Henry was still fast asleep, then walk out of the engine shed with... _Burnett Stone? That must mean Lady is here._ He looked around outside the shed, but the sun hadn't come up over the horizon yet and it was still looked pretty dark outside the lit-up shed, except for the cones of light under the arc-lamps, and he couldn't see her anywhere. _I wonder why they're here?_

He then thought of the conversation he'd just had with Jim._ I wonder why he wanted to know what I could last remember. I... think I had a weird dream but I... yeah, I WAS feeling upset last night after that dirty diesel-fucker drenched me. Ruined my day, he did. Hang on... yeah, I think that's what I last remember. Yeah, I'm sure of it. Ah well, Jim had better get his arse sorted out and find me some work to do if the mail run has been cancelled. I wonder why did that? It's never been cancelled before as far as I can remember. Ah well. Fuck it, I wonder when the others will wake up. It's fucking boring waiting here with just that old engine to keep me company. I wonder why that old engine is so important. He doesn't look much to ME. He can't talk properly and he looks like he could barely pull a single coal truck, never mind a rack of them! I wonder why he hasn't got a face. HA! He can't pull a face! Ha-ha-ha! I made up a funny joke. I've got to tell that to Thomas when he wakes up!_

ooo

_"Well?"_ Burnett asked Percy's driver in a hushed voice once they were both outside the engine shed.

_"It's like you said it would be, Mr Stone, sir. 'E don't remember nothing 'bout last week, 'e don't."_

_"So, Lady was right,"_ said Burnett. _"They can't remember anything. He's a bit... coarse when he complains about something, isn't he?"_

_"Yeah,"_ agreed Jim, _"I noticed that, like. 'E don't normally swear like that, he don't, Mr Stone, sir. Come to think of it, 'e NEVER swears, does old Percy. 'E moans an' complains a lot, yeah, but 'e never swears, 'e don't. 'E feels okay, he says, but I'll know better when I take 'im out for a run, if that's all right with you, Mr Stone, sir?"_

_"Yeah, er...?"_

_"Jim, Mr Stone, sir. Jim 'Arper. I've bin Percy's driver for the last fifteen years, I 'ave, an' if there's anything wrong with 'im, I'll know it!"_

_"Right, Jim,"_ said Burnett, _"thank you for that. I'll let Sir Topham know about him waking up. The others will most likely be the same in not remembering anything, but we'll still have to check. One thing before I go over and phone, Jim..."_

_"What's that, Mr Stone, sir?"_

_"Ask the other guys to pay attention to how they speak when they wake up, will you?"_

_"Yeah, Mr Stone, sir. I'll do that, I will,"_ replied Jim as he turned to walk back to the engine shed.

_Curious,_ thought Burnett as he walked over to the fitting shop. _There's nothing wrong with him physically that can be noticed yet, just his swearing, according to his driver. Maybe it's because of what happened to him. We'll know more when James and Thomas wake up, I suppose, but I don't think Henry will be awake for another hour or so yet._

_**~Hey, Jim...~**_ Percy called out loudly. _**~Why's Burnett Stone here, and where's Lady got to?~**_

_"Shut your racket, Percy, me ol' foghorn! She's sleeping 'round the side of the shed if you must know, an' she was really busy last night so the ol' gal is feeling knackered, she is, so don't you go waking 'er up, now, or we'll 'ave you working down the waste dump with Whiff an' Scruff quicker than you can say 'Fuck me, what's that 'orrible smell?'!"_

ooo

Sir Topham glanced yet again at the clock on the wall. There still hadn't been any word from Tidmouth and it would be dawn soon. He was expecting to have heard _something_ from them by now. Some of the other larger engines had already woken up, and like the smaller engines, they were reported to be unaware of their recent change, confirming yet again what Lady had told him.

Apart from the problems he'd already discussed with Burnett, there was still the ethical problem of what she'd done to them, and he still wasn't quite sure how he felt about her doing that, after all, the event had happened, yes, but now, for the engines themselves, it hadn't. They could be told about what had happened to them, but without them being able to remember any of it, they'd no doubt think that a prank was being played on them. His thoughts then turned to Thomas and the ordeal he'd seen him go through during the ritual. In a way, he hoped that the poor man, no, eng-, _"DAMN IT!"_

He was confused as to how he should now think of the engine, and it wasn't just Thomas, but all the other engines as well... and the coaches _and_ the trucks. Over the last seven days, he'd seen or met and talked to a lot of them as people... the men, the women and the... the children. He looked again over to his hospitality cabinet.

_NO!_

Slapping his hands down onto the top of his desk, he got up and walked out into the outer office. No, he wasn't going to go down _that_ particular road, he told himself. Instead, he'd get Mr Jones and Ivor to take him back over to Tidmouth to see for himself what was delaying things, but then he stopped, tutting to himself as he recalled that they'd gone back ages ago so that Jones could give Burnett a hand with the firing up. Being so early in the morning there shouldn't be that much road traffic, and he reckoned he could be there in a quarter hour if he drove fast enough, and after checking his coat pocket for his car keys, he made his way out to the car park, and so not there to answer his phone when it started ringing three minutes later.

ooo

Up in Arlesdale, they'd managed to get all the miniature engines running, including the diesels, and were now running them back and forth to check their running gear and boiler performance. Everything was going well without any noticeable differences after their week of being "inactive", well, except for one of the engines' continual grouching!

_**~We've been at this for a half-hour, now, and I'm telling you, man, there's nothing wrong with me! Why you've got me going up and down the line like an idiot for? Answer me, will you?~**_

_"Look, Mike,"_ said his driver, _"all I can say is that we've been told to make these safety checks on you all before any of you can haul any trucks or carry passengers. It's for your own good, so let's just get on with it, yeah?"_

_**~It's alright for you just sitting there!~**_ snapped Mike. _**~It's not you that's puffing up and down the track and not getting anywhere at the end of it all!~**_

_"I've still got to keep an eye on your gauges and maintain your boiler pressure, Mike, so I'm quite busy as well. Tell me one thing, though, why were you so rude to that young woman when you woke up? She only wanted to be your friend!"_

_**~She was staring at me like I was some sort of freak and I didn't like it,~ **_growled Mike, _**~and she was standing in my way, the silly cow!~**_

_"She was waiting for you to wake to say hello to you. I think that was a very nice thing to do, don't you?"_

_**~The nice thing to do,~**_ said Mike as he puffed out a thick cloud of black smoke to express his displeasure and making his driver cough quite strongly, _**~would be to not stand in my way!~**_

_"There's just no arguing with you, Mike, is there?"_ said his driver tiredly.

_**~You've got THAT right, man!~**_

_"Mr Duncan has started being nice to us, but there's nothing changed with your attitude to people, is there?"_ said his driver.

_**~Why do you think something's changed with me?~**_ snapped Mike. _**~Is THAT why we're doing this stupid back and fore stuff?~**_

_"No, Mike. Like I said just now, it's just a safety check, nothing more."_

_**~Huh! I don't like all this fuss everyone's making of me. I wake up and they all start shouting and cheering like they thought I wasn't going to. Why's that?~**_

_"Just a game we decided to play, you know, try and guess the first engine to wake up, that's all it was, Mike, nothing for you to worry about."_

And so it went, countless questions and snarky comments as the little red steam engine did nothing more that day than run back and forth along the same boring length of track as his driver made some notes on a clipboard every now and then. For Mike, it was one of the longest, most tiresome days of his life, as far as he could remember, that is.

ooo

Sir Topham's "quarter-of-an-hour-drive" was taking much longer that that. Not a mile out from Knapford and the narrow road he was on was blocked by a large herd of cattle being guided by one of the local farmers and his men along it to their pasture field. There was nothing he could do but to just sit and wait until the last one had been secured inside, and it was a good ten minutes before he was able to carry on to Tidmouth. Since he left Knapford, the sky had turned from black to a dark-grey and then a dark blue where he could see it behind gathering clouds. The forecast had been cloudy but dry, and he hoped that it was going to stay dry as there was going to be a lot of outdoor work for his staff today as they checked out the engines and other rolling stock.

ooo

_**~Whu-whu-why can't I ever be the first to wake up in this shed?~**_ asked James as he opened his eyes, hearing Percy chatting loudly with his driver. _It's always him or Thomas that wakes me up with their incessant talking, and I was having a really strange dream, and I can't even remember it now, blast them! I'd love to wake THEM up too early and ruin THEIR sleep! See how they like it!_

_**~And good morning to you, too, you lazy git,~**_ said Percy, glancing across to his red-painted friend. _**~I suppose we're in for yet another day of hearing about how fucking special you are with your bloody shiny red paint looking so fucking... shiny!~**_

_"Percy!"_ growled Jim warningly. _"I've already spoken to you 'bout your foul language, I 'ave, so you can cut that sort of talk out straight away, or I'll 'ave to use my key on you, I will!"_

_**~Sorry, Jim, Sir,~**_ came Percy's subdued reply. _**~I wasn't thinking. I'll try not to do it again.~**_

_"Make sure you're thinking when Sir Topham comes 'ere next, me ol' pepper-pot, or else 'e'll 'ave you doing something that's MUCH worse than 'auling smelly stuff all day, 'e will!"_

_**~Sorry, Jim, Sir,~**_ repeated the glum-faced engine. _**~I'll be on my best behaviour when he come next, I will. You'll see!~**_

_"Glad to 'ear it,"_ said Jim, returning to the crossword in the morning paper he'd sent one of the apprentices to fetch over from the local newsagent's.

_**~I know you say you're fed up of me going on about my shiny red paint all the time, Percy,~**_ said James, _**~but you didn't have to be so rude about it. What's upset YOU this morning?~**_

_**~I'm sorry for talking to you like that just now, James, but it's THAT that's wrong with me. You know I never swear any time, but since I woke up this morning, it's all I've been doing. I've even had a telling-off from Jim for swearing, and I think he told Burnett Stone about me. I saw them whispering together outside and I think they were talking about ME.~**_

_**~Burnett?~**_ queried James excitedly, his face lighting up with pleasure. _**~I haven't seen him since I took coal over for Lady a few weeks back. Where is he? Where's Lady?~**_

_**~I saw him walking over towards the fitting shop,~**_ said Percy. _**~Lady is sleeping 'round the side, Jim says. She was very busy last night, which is why she has to sleep in peace and quiet,~**_ he explained proudly.

Percy reckoned there wasn't much that was better than knowing something the bigger engines didn't, and he loved to make the most of any chance he got to make himself appear important in their eyes. _**~So,~**_ he continued, _**~don't you go waking her up by talking all morning about your shiny red paint, James, or Burnett will be cross with you!~**_

Before James could respond, though, Henry's eyes slowly flickered open and he yawned loudly. _**~What's all this commotion?~**_ he asked sleepily. _**~You know your squabbling has disturbed my peaceful beauty sleep, don't you?~**_

_**~How are you feeling, Henry?~**_ asked Percy. _**~Is your boiler rumbling or your steam chest choking? What do you remember from last night, Henry?~**_

_"Percy! Be quiet!"_ snapped Jim from inside his cab. _"As I'm the senior driver 'ere present, I'LL do the questioning seeing as Mr Stone 'ain't back 'ere yet."_ Folding up his newspaper, he wedged it underneath Percy's reverser bar and jumped down out of his cab, striding officiously round the front of the engines and stopping in front of Henry.

Maintaining a cold stare at the now worried-looking eyes of Henry, he nodded slowly to himself, hooked his thumbs under the collar of his donkey jacket, and said, _"Morning, 'Enry,"_ tilting his head slightly askew as though ready to gauge the quality of the engine's reply.

_**~Good morning, Jim, Sir,~**_ Henry replied, both trying and failing to get his face into the same position as Jim's, his eyebrows creasing with even more worry. _What's going on? What have I done now? _His mind raced as he ran through what he'd done yesterday to warrant a questioning, and couldn't think of anything he'd done wrong... except for, yeah, he'd slowed down a bit as he passed the forest that paralleled Gordon's Hill so that he could gaze at the trees for a bit, but that was all he'd done. Surely he wasn't in trouble for _that?_ And Mr Stone? The only Mr Stone _he_ knew was the one far away in Shining Time, Lady's driver.

_"Now, then, 'Enry, me ol' letterbox,"_ said Jim, starting his questioning, _"first of all, I'd like to ask you about your physical 'ealth, me old metal friend. Tell me, 'Enry, how do you feel right now, eh?"_

_**~Er, well, I feel all right, Jim, Sir.~**_

_"Rrrrr-ight, let's make it a bit 'arder for you, eh?"_ said Jim, sticking his chin up in the air as he imagined a courtroom lawyer would do. _"What do you know about 'ow your system is running, eh? Answer me THAT, then, me ol' cucumber."_

_**~Um, well, my fire's burning well, not built up too much or needing topping up right now, and hot enough for them two noisy blighters to wake me up without that much tardiness on my part, though I must say, just to make it clear, I was actually enjoying that sleep, at least I think I was. I can't remember much about it, now, due to them two waking me up, you see. My boiler water level isn't too low or too high, in fact, it feels just about right. My injectors aren't blocked and my water is flowing through my pipes nice and smoothly to ensure that that is the case, and I can't feel any airlocks to impede it, either. My steam is building up nicely inside my steam chest to the right pressure, and if you'll excuse me for just a moment, I'll demonstrate for you...~**_

Henry's face then took on a look of intense concentration and, a few lengthy seconds later, he opened the safety pressure release valves in the top of his boiler and let out a small whiff of steam with a quiet _pfft_ rather than a loud hiss. His audience noted that he _did_ look somewhat relieved after that.

_**~My valve gear feels all right with no potential jams or stickiness,~**_ he continued_**. ~ My brakes are nice and tight with no air getting into them and, overall, I generally feel well lubricated and my axles have been greased to my satisfaction. In all, and despite those two noisy engines waking me up so annoyingly, I feel raring to go, which, strangely, feels nice. Will that do for you, Jim, Sir, or would you rather I go on in more detail? I haven't mentioned my pistons or cylinder cocks yet.~**_

_"Hmmm, no, 'Enry, me ol' gramophone, that sounds about right for now,"_ said Jim, nodding his head slowly as he started to pace back and forth in front of the engine, _"BUT, my ol' picture frame,"_ he suddenly let out, quickly spinning round and pointing a finger at an imaginary spot right between Henry's eyes, _"WHAT do you remember about YESTERDAY, EH? Answer me THAT, then, my ol' cauliflower!"_

_**~Er, I took mixed freight to Vicarstown and brought back some box vans and coaches, stopping at Crovan's Gate, Kellsthorpe Road, Killdane where we dropped off one of the box vans, Cronk, Maron, Wellsworth, Crosby, Knapford, here, Haultrauge, finally stopping at Arlesburgh where I dropped off the rest of the box vans and the coaches before returning back here solo for my coal and water to be topped up and a bloody good night's sleep that was disturbed by those two bickering blighters, Jim, Sir.~**_ He wasn't going to mention slowing down to look at the trees by Gordon's Hill if he could help it, not unless directly asked, that is. He wasn't sure he'd get away with it, though, judging by the intense stare that driver Jim was giving him right then. _He knows, he can see it in my face,_ thought Henry, desperately trying not to let his panic show.

_"Are you sure of that, me ol' spinning wheel? You know what'll 'appen if you've been fibbing to me with that rather dodgy length of yarn, don't you, 'Enry?"_

_**~Um, I think I do, Jim, Sir,~**_ he replied nervously, trying very hard not to swallow nervously.

_"DRIVER BARTHOLOMEW WILSON,"_ called out Jim, then, before turning abruptly to face Henry's driver, currently sitting atop a welder's bench by the shed wall and watching the "proceedings" with a smile on his face. He knew full well what his engine _wasn't_ telling Jim, and he reckoned he knew what was coming next.

_"Is what 'Enry the Green Engine by 'ere is saying the truth, my good man? Is the extremely detailed tale 'e just fed to me the truth of the matter, or is it the biggest load of cock an' bull ever to spew out of 'is anthropomorphic orifice?"_

Of course Bart knew what they had done during the day before the event, but he held back his answer for a moment just to wind up his engine, and smirked as he watched Henry's face contort into a look of extreme anxiety as the engine waited for his driver to confirm what he had just said. Bart was worried he'd do himself an injury trying not to laugh, and, finally taking pity on the green engine, said, _"It's not QUITE the truth, my learned Mr Harper, sir,"_ and stared stoically at the wide-eyed look of alarm that Henry was giving him.

_"Oh, really, Mr Wilson?"_ enquired Jim. _"And what part of that of that steaming pile of 'orse mess gives cause to your concern, Mr Wilson, me old cock sparra?"_

_"What he forgot to tell you, Mr Harper,"_ said Bart, pausing to keep a straight face as Henry's mouth dropped open with shock that his own driver was actually going to betray him, _"... is the part where we had to slow down..."_ Henry's eyes took on a look of sorrow as he waited for his omission to be made known to Jim, _"for some sheep to cross the lines. Other than that, Jim, what he said is quite true."_

Henry gasped, coughing out a cloud of thick smoke through his funnel with relief as Bart burst into laughter at the trick he'd just played on his engine. Maybe now, thought Bart, his engine wouldn't waste any more time in future by slowing down to gaze at trees.

_**~He got you there, Henry,~**_ laughed James, knowing full well what Henry always did when going over Gordon's Hill. _**~That was great, Bart, Sir. He thought he was going to be in for a telling off from Sir Topham!~**_

_**~Yeah,~**_ agreed Percy. _**~That was really funny, Jim, Sir. It's a pity Thomas wasn't awake to see it. It's strange he's not awake yet, the lazy fucker. I'M SORRY, Jim, Sir~**_ said Percy quickly. _**~It slipped out. I won't do it again, I won't!~**_

_"His temperature is a bit slow building up, that's all,"_ said Thomas' driver. _"Just a few more degrees and pounds of pressure and he'll be steaming nicely, then he'll be with you in the land of the living again."_

_"What about you, James, me ol' letter box?"_ asked Jim as he walked back over to finish his crossword puzzle. _"Are YOU feeling okay?"_

_**~Yes, Sir, Jim, Sir. I feel as fit as a fiddle.~**_

_"Any funny memories or anything peculiar going on in your life recently?"_

_**~Er, no, Sir. Everything's been going well, Sir. I've been hauling trucks back and forth to Brendam Docks all week and nothing out of the ordinary has happened, except for one thing...~ **_

_"Oh, yeah?"_ asked Jim, slowing his walk back to Percy's cab. _"An' what would that 'ave bin, me ol' parsnip?"_

_**~Er... I thought I saw Cranky the Crane lowering Thomas down into one of the container pens, but when I was coming back to Knapford, I saw him on the main line waiting at the junction for Elsbridge, so it couldn't have been him.~**_

_"Really?"_ asked Jim quite disbelievingly. _"'Ey, Vince,"_ he called out. Vince, Thomas' driver, was against the edge of the engine's cab entrance, also paying an interest in what was going on down on the shed floor.

_"What's up, Jim?"_ he asked.

_"To your knowledge, sir, are you aware of your engine going, shall we say, 'up in the world' recently?"_

_"I have no knowledge of THAT, Jim,"_ replied Vince, _"... and I'd know if he did as all me and him did, er, last week was his branch line. He's been nowhere near Brendam Docks. Say, James, when was it you thought you saw him?"_

_**~Er... Tuesday morning, Mr Vince, sir. Cranky was unloading the ship that came in on Monday evening.~**_

_"Well, there we are, then, Jim"_ said Vince. _"I was mornings all of, er, last week, and Moaning Morris was on him in the afternoons, again on his branch line,"_ and, to the red engine, he said, _"You must have been seeing things, James."_

_"Oh, that's it, then,"_ said Jim, _"case closed, then. Thank you, Vince, for proving Thomas' innocence in this grievous allegation, and James, if you were a 'uman being, then I'd say you desperately need to get your eyes tested, but you're not, so don't you worry 'bout it. Bart, if you don't mind, would you go over an' let Mr Stone know we've got another two up an' awake with no problems to report?"_

_"Yeah, sure, Jim,"_ said Bart, frowning at Jim at what he'd just said to James. It was a bit _too_ close to the bone, he thought, considering what they didn't want the engines to know! Shaking his head as he left the shed, he made his way across to the fitting shop, thinking to himself that despite the times the man showed himself to be quite well-educated, he acted as though he had a screw loose somewhere!

ooo

Gemma opened the curtains to a grey day. Jeanie was still curled up asleep and so she left her to wake up by herself. She gathered together the clothes she was going to wear to work that day and went to have a shower before making the phone calls she needed to do. If she could get them done before her sister woke up, so much the better.

Half an hour later and feeling more herself with only her hair and make left to do, she went downstairs to prepare a quick breakfast. Four slices of raspberry jam on toast and a cup of tea later, she looked in the phone book for Divya's father's number, hoping he wasn't ex-directory or her plan would stop right there.

Sitting in the living room with her pen poised over her note paper, she nervously listened to the "prr-prr" of the ringing tone in her phone's earpiece, hoping he or her mother was in. Finally, a man's voice answered, his Indian accent giving her confirmation that she was actually doing this. She greeted him with a "Good Morning, sir" and gave him her name, explaining then that she was attempting to get together with some of her old school clique for a reunion together. He wouldn't give Gemma her home number, but was willing to give the number of the group consultancy where she worked. Gemma asked where that was, and was quite pleased to hear that it was in Brendam. Thanking him profusely, she bid him goodbye and hung up. Now for stage two, she thought.

Gemma's heart started to race, help for her sister was possibly just one phone call away, and she needed it to go absolutely perfect. She started making a list of the things she thought she would need explain to her old school friend, hoping for all she was worth that she would be willing to help. As for how much this was going to cost, she didn't have a clue, imagining figures in the three to four digit range, and she wondered how the hell she'd be able to pay for it.

Not having any idea of what was likely to involved in all, she felt quite daunted, and considered abandoning her plan, but then she wondered if maybe she could persuade Divya to give her a discount of some sort, or be willing for her to pay for it all in instalments, and for the next ten minutes her mind ran through several imaginary conversations all ending with the Indian girl agreeing to help Jeanie and telling her not to worry too much about the bill, she'd do it out of the kindness of her heart, or yes, she could pay it off over a period of time.

Sighing as she pulled herself out of her foolish daydreams, she took a deep breath and started dialing Divya's number, but as she finished dialing, she heard her sister's footsteps coming down the stairs, forcing her to quickly hang up and put the phone down, hoping that it hadn't started ringing on the other end. Sitting back and starting to doodle idly on her notepaper, she tried not to look suspicious as Jeanie came into the room.

_"Morning, sis,"_ she said casually, just glancing at Jeanie as she coloured in the teardrop she'd drawn hanging off a petal of an upside-down sunflower. _"Sleep alright after your... you know?"_

She saw that Jeanie was dressed to go out and looking quite respectable in _her_ dark blue trousers-suit and white fluffy blouse, but as Gemma was taller than her, the trousers were a bit too long for her. She decided not to comment on that lest her sister get upset or something.

_"Yeah,"_ replied Jeanie meekly._ "I can't remember what I dreamt after that, though. All I remember is having this weird feeling that I've lost someone close to me."_

_"Oh. You... er, going out, then?" _

_"Yeah, I'm going to see Sir Topham and give him my notice. I don't think I want to have anything to do with railways again. I... I think I got a bit... too involved in things."_

_"Well,"_ said Gemma, trying not to sound too enthusiastic over that happy bit of news, _"maybe a fresh start in some other type of job somewhere will give you a more... positive feeling. What time are you going there?"_

_"Well, now, I thought I'd go. Better get it done as soon as possible, yeah? I can say goodbye to Debra, his secretary. She was quite friendly with me, she was, the little amount of time I was actually in Knapford. Hmmph, I can say goodbye to the engines as well, not that they'll say anything back to me, I suppose."_

_Oh, Gawd,_ thought Gemma, _here we go again!_ _"Er... yeah. I suppose a sense of... closure will be good, an end to an era sort of thing, you know?"_ she finished meekly.

_"Hmmph,"_ snorted Jeanie. _"You can say that again! You look like you're going out as well, Gem. Get your hair sorted out first, will you? You look like it's YOU that's been having nightmares and disturbed sleep!"_

_"I haven't long come out of the shower if you MUST know, you cheeky cow! Right, for that, I demand you have something to eat before you go out. I don't want to come back home later and find out you fainted there for lack of food or whatever!" _

Her phone call would have to wait until after Jeanie'd gone, she told to herself, then started racking her brains for something to talk about other than engines or weird stuff like ley lines and dragon spirits or whatever they were.

_"You want to watch a DVD tonight?"_ she asked, framing her upside-down sunflower inside a rectangle with legs and a two-pronged TV antenna on top of it.

ooo

Floating in a black void where he'd long lost any comprehension of time spent, Thomas wondered when he'd felt his surroundings begin to warm up. He also wondered _where_ he was and _what_ he was. Then, shapeless, twisting forms of yellow, orange, red and white lights started to flicker into existence before disappearing just as quickly, incomprehensible sounds clicked and snapped, echoing all around him. Ripping, crackling sounds, each one bouncing from one place to another, his perception of "self" trying to latch onto each one of them as they registered in his mind, all in vain as he simply couldn't establish any form of connection with them.

The coloured lights took on unimaginable forms he couldn't put a name to, half-formed words he might or night not have once been familiar with echoed around the void, stretching into longer sounds and rising in volume and pitch before fading away to nothing as other sounds took their place. Multi-hued shapes took on more and more definition until he thought he knew what they were, only for them to fade away as even more shapes appeared in their stead, all of this going on as he felt himself getting warmer, then hot, and hotter still until he thought he was going to burn, or melt, even, then, in one mind-twisting moment when every possible sound and every possible thing he could ever imagine seeing came into being within his mind, he knew he now existed as a real thing, no, he thought, he was a someone, wasn't he?

A part of him was fascinated by the fact that he could now sense the passing of time, while another part of him felt the sense of motion, and yet another was warning that something was following him, chasing him and getting closer with every passing second, and he daren't let himself be caught or he'd be swallowed by that... that _monster_.

He strained and squeezed and managed to pick up a little more speed as smoke belched out of his chimney. He thought he was going to pass out with the effort he was putting into his escape, but all he had to do to be safe was to get into that tunnel, safe not only for himself, but for Annie and Clarabel as well. He didn't want them to be caught either, but at last, he raced into the tunnel and safety, but in this new blackness that surrounded him, he as heard his pursuer growl in his ear,he screamed, _**~NOOOOooooo...**_

_"JESUS CHRIST!"_ yelled the young apprentice mechanic, frightened so much by the screaming tank engine he jumped back so quickly he stumbled and fell onto the hard floor, bruising his elbow quite badly as it broke his fall. He'd just been walking in front of sleeping Thomas when the engine's two large eyes suddenly burst open, almost deafening him with the most blood-curdling cry of despair he'd ever heard in his life!

Nursing his bad arm, he got up on his feet, panicking as the startled engine's eyes searched wildly around. _"THOMAS, IT'S ALL RIGHT!"_ he shouted. _"THERE'S NOTHING FOR YOU TO BE FRIGHTENED OF! YOU'RE SAFE!"_

As the blue engine's eyes slowed their frantic search for whatever it was that had been chasing him, the apprentice heard Mr Stone and Bart behind him running into the shed to stand next to him. _"HE... HE WOKE UP SCREAMING!"_ he yelled to the two men so that they'd hear him.

_"THOMAS,"_ Burnett called out. _"IT'S ME, BURNETT STONE! CAN YOU HEAR ME?"_

Thomas' screams stopped, the engine's mouth wide open but silent and Burnett saw the two large fear-filled eyes lock onto him.

_"You're safe in your shed at Tidmouth,"_ he said to staring engine. _"There's nothing for you to be frightened of, Thomas. You're safe. Do you understand what I'm saying?"_

Thomas' mouth moved silently as though trying to form a word just as Sir Topham entered the shed with a look of alarm on his face. As he'd neared the shed, he'd seen that Percy, Henry and James were awake, and his heart had lifted with happiness, but it had stilled when Thomas had then woken up making the most frightening sounds. Amidst the terrible wails, he could hear Burnett calling to the stricken engine, and for a moment, he feared that Thomas was still suffering the pain he was in during the ritual.

_**~Thomas?~**_ asked Percy with a concerned look on his face. _**~What's the matter? Did you have a bad dream or something? I thought I had dreamt of something bad happening to me, but it's gone now and I can't think what the fuck it was!~**_

_**~... Uh... yeah!~**_ Thomas quietly muttered, finally managing to get his mouth to say what _he_ wanted. He'd felt as though two different minds were trying to use it at the same time to speak two completely different things, but the thing was, they were both _his_. _**~I... I think I was... I don't know where I was... it was all black... and then all these weird lights and things came and I heard strange noises and... and then I sensed something dangerous and it was getting really close to me and I had to get away from it but I felt it touch me and then... then everything stopped!~**_

He shivered, then, still feeling the weird phenomenon. It was as though something was lurking in the background and waiting for just the right time to pounce on him and take control of his thoughts. It also felt like he was wearing a "second" skin, but inside two completely different bodies at the same time and not knowing which one was his "real" one. He noticed the group of men in front of him, and as he looked down at them, he "knew" that he knew them all, or, at least, his "other" self, the _engine?_ part of him knew them. Suddenly feeling lost as that bit of information took hold of him, he felt his mouth move and heard himself say, _**~Burnett? What are YOU doing here? Has Lady come to visit us?~**_

_Lady?_ Thomas asked _himself? Yes, Lady, the magical engine, _he heard, "felt" his other mind confirm_. I'm a tank engine!_ _WHAT? _What really shocked him was that it was his own "mental" voice talking back to him without any feeling of conscious control, confirming to him that he _was_ actually inside the engine as well as existing as a person, _but where's my body?_ He felt angry, then, things weren't making any sense and he became aware of a pressure building up somewhere inside him and he wanted to... _burp? _and felt his _blower?_ open, and he blinked in surprise as he "coughed" out a cloud of smoke from his _funnel?_

_"Yes"_ he heard the man, Burnett, reply. _"She's sleeping outside at the moment. Er, the time difference, you know? She was, er, quite busy last night. Was it like Percy just said, Thomas? Were you having a bad dream just now? Do you remember anything of it?"_

_**~Yes,~**_ he heard himself say. _**~I remember... I remember something big... something big and red was getting close to me and it was saying something to me...~**_the looming presence he'd sensed approaching him was suddenly on top of him, surrounding him and he fell silent as a thick red mist overcame his senses and stilling his mind. _It's going to kill me! _he thought, and then he heard a strange voice speak to him, but not in a way that he knew.

The words the voice-, no, it wasn't using words, it was some sort of musical message, and he realised that... yes, he'd heard it before and was something so beautiful and pure to listen to that the absolute truth it contained couldn't be disputed in any way.

Then he saw an image enter his mind, an image of a man on the floor of the actual shed he was in and writhing in agony as a _dragon?_ slashed at his side, and then he recalled the pain he'd felt as the creature had ripped into him and he somehow knew that the poor soul being tortured by the beast was actually himself. The cold, brutal truth of the image contained within the musical "words" crashed into his very soul, crumbling his own sense of being and left him feeling totally empty.

_Remember these words and remember them well, Thomas. I have destroyed the control rune they burnt into your flesh after you died, the one they used to bind your Life-Spirit to their Will and force you to forget your past. _

_**~I... I thought it was going to... going to crash into me, destroy me, even.~ **_

_Thomas, when you awaken from your darkness, do not let Lady or any of the railway staff know that you are aware of your true nature. _

_**~I didn't... I didn't know what was happening to me. I didn't know where or who I was.~ **_

_For all she speaks of her love for you and your engine friends, she wants to take the truth of who you really are away from you all, all the memories you have of your past life, even the ones of your family. _

He recalled being in a strange dark place as memories of his life played out in front of him, and he remembered looking down an embankment at a canal barge with a family working on it. The children playing on it reminding him of his own and how much he'd like his family to be with _him_ as he worked, then he remembered the moment of his own actual death under the falling engine, the instant engulfing sense of pain-beyond-pain as the engine crushed his body, and he felt his stomach tighten and he wanted to be sick at the sheer horror of what was happening right then, but he didn't have a stomach any more and was no longer physically able to carry out such a human act.

He'd always been a God-fearing man, regularly taking his family to chapel every Sunday and listening intently as the preacher spoke his sermons, and now, now he believed he'd been damned by his God. He felt something "shift" in his mind as he become "one" with the truth of his situation and, for just a moment he felt completely hollow. Clinging to his new-found sense of "self", he made a mental "push" to ensure that _he_ was the one to control his "mouth" when it "spoke" next.

_**~My dream... I thought... I thought I was safe,~**_ it felt like his eyes were filling up with water and a tear running down his cheek as it spilled over, _but tank engines can't cry, can they?_ he asked himself, _**~...but I... I was confused about who... who I was and what was happening to me.~**_

_Tell only your engine friends of this truth, and only when you can trust them not to reveal it or you will lose everything, Thomas. Not even your owner, Sir Topham, must know you are aware of your life as a human before their foul magic was used to turn you into a tank engine. _

He recalled seeing his childhood friends, a wife, a son he'd lost, more sons and then a daughter. _Oh God_, he thought, how much he wanted to cry out in despair at what had been taken from him, then he saw himself talking to a man wearing hooded robes and asking him a question to which he never got to hear the answer that was about to become moot...

_Remember who you were and who you still are, Thomas. _

_**~...but I know who and where I am now. I'm a... a tank engine at Tidmouth Sheds with... with my engine friends. That's right, isn't it, Burnett?~ **_

Though speaking calmly, the rage he felt inside right then was so intense it took all of his willpower not to cry out at the horror at what they'd done to him, and he had an urge to run over the men in front of him, but then he remembered the dragon's message telling him not to let anyone know he was no longer under their control.

_**~Of course it's right, you fucking idiot,~**_ said Percy, _**~Christ, it must have been a fucking weird nightmare you had last night, Thomas!~**_

Sir Topham's eyes almost popped out of his skull at the saddle-tank's foul language. Burnett heard his gasp of shock and as the man was now here, he brought him up to date with Percy's swearing problem as well as what Bart had told him of Henry's talkativeness, adding also that James was the only one so far that appeared to be fully "normal".

The railway owner was on tenterhooks as Thomas and Burnett talked, and he wanted so much to interrupt and ask the engine how he was, but rather than confuse the engine even more by having two separate conversations, he'd held back He so much wanted to reassure him that it would be alright now that he was back in his engine form, but, at the same time, he wanted to know how he was after what Lady had done to them all to make them not remember their change into people, but he could feel the railway magic assuring him that all was in order.

He hated times like that when he felt himself succumbing to the railway magic's control, wishing sometimes that he could be free of its constricting reins, but he also knew that he'd never then be able to experience the wonders it had brought into his life. It was a heavy yoke he'd long become used to bearing stoically.

_**~Er, yeah... Percy,~**_ said Thomas. _**~It was...weird all right. Tell me, FRIEND, when did you start to swear like a trooper?~**_

_**~WHAT?~**_ demanded Percy, but then he realised just what words he'd been saying. _**~Oo-er, what the fu-, sorry, what's the matter with me? I'm frightened! Sir Topham, Sir, I think something's wrong with me! I've been swearing and I don't normally do that! I'm EVER so sorry, Sir Topham, Sir! Please don't send me away to be scrapped!~**_

_"I won't do that to you, Percy,"_ said Sir Topham, believing it to be some sort of side-effect of the change. _"How else do you feel? Is there anything else you can feel wrong with you?"_

_**~No, Sir Topham,~**_ said Percy humbly. _**~My systems all feel fine, it's... it's just the swearing, Sir. I feel like I can't stop it happening!~**_

_"Maybe it's just a passing phase, Percy,"_ said Burnett. _"Try and, er, control yourself in future, yeah?"_

_**~I'll try, Mr Burnett, Sir,~**_ said Percy worriedly, his face a picture of sadness.

_"Thomas..."_ said Burnett, then. _"Apart from the after-effects of your, er, nightmare, how else do you feel? Are you steaming like you were, er, yesterday?"_

_**~Oh, yes,~**_ said Thomas, _**~I'm steaming all right. I don't think I've ever steamed so well as how I'm steaming right now, you know?~**_ and to emphasise what he meant, he consciously opened every valve and steam vent he could all at the same time with such force that he laughed as he saw the men in front of him scramble away lest the piping-hot steam scald them.

_**~How's THAT for steaming?~**_ he asked, chuckling to himself. _**~Oh, I feel better for that! Sir Topham, I can't wait to start work again!~**_

He stopped chuckling and composed himself, watching silently as Sir Topham came closer and affectionately tapped his right buffer before going over to talk to the other engines. What he'd just said about feeling better was only partially true, as right now, all he wanted to do was to burst out crying, but he'd have to wait before he could do that, wait until he was alone somewhere to vent his rage at what they'd done to him.

ooOOoo


End file.
